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Zimbabwe: Country in 2008 - United States Worried
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The Zimbabwe Guardian (London)
26 March 2008
Posted to the web 27 March 2008
Robin Mathews
Harare
The United States said it is concerned by the actions of President Robert Mugabe's government ahead of Saturday's synchronized presidential and legislative polls. Washington said Harare's behavior would preclude free and fair elections.
"Independent organizations report extensive pre-election irregularities, such as inaccurate voter rolls, violence and intimidation of competing political parties and civil society; overproduction of postal ballots for police, military, diplomats, and electoral officials and absence of independent observation of the counting of postal votes to prevent multiple voting; inadequate polling stations in urban areas; bias against the opposition in the government-controlled media; permission for police to be present inside polling stations in breach of the recent SADC-brokered agreement; and politicized distribution of government-controlled food, and other benefits and government resources" said Sean McComack in a statement.
The US Department of State spokesperson urged the Harare administration, including the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, to take concrete actions to address these "significant shortcomings, including respecting the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the Zimbabwean people"
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Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has also threatened to pull out of the elections if Mugabe forges ahead with his plans to ferry all presidential ballots from all 11 000 polling stations countrywide to a national command centre in Harare for a counting. The MDC argues that if Mugabe is allowed to do that, it would be unlawful under sections of the Electoral Act which require ballots to be counted at point of polling. The opposition also says airlifting ballots to the national command centre would give the ruling Zanu PF party a chance to stuff ballots.
Meanwhile, the Save Zimbabwe Campaign, a coalition of likeminded Christians seeking a peaceful resolution to the Zimnbabwean crisis, has written to the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation urging the state broadcaster to provide equal and fair coverage to political parties participating in Saturday's polls. The coalition said ZBC was giving unlimited coverage to Zanu PF while ignoring the opposition.
Despite these obstacles, MacComack encouraged all Zimbabweans to exercise their democratic right to vote in a peaceful and orderly manner.
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