ZIM NOT READY FOR FREE & FAIR ELECTIONS

Conditions for free and fair elections in Zimbabwe are not present, despite the country's new constitution and more conciliatory statements from President Mugabe, both from Zimbabwean civil society and international NGOs agree. Among other things, writes Amnesty International, in its new annual report that the Zimbabwean army, police and intelligence services "again [will] try to influence the next elections to ZANU-PF's favor". Wellington Zindove, coordinator of the Youth Forum Zimbabwe, says that "Mugabe opinions on peace are not consistent with what his followers do in reality. The political situation is becoming more and more unpredictable".

Although violence against his political opponents has been rising up towards the election, it seems as though Mugabe and his ZANU-PF will use more peaceful methods than in 2008 to try to stay in power. Senior people in the police supports openly ZANU-PF and harass often ZANU-PF's political rival MDC and civil society, says a new report from the independent NGO International Crisis Group (ICG). The continuing arrests and the continued harassment of human rights defenders and MDC activists also show that the justice system is also used for political manipulation.

Police seize radios that can reach beyond Zimbabwe's state radio, controlled by Mugabe, and threaten people not to buy new. These radios are one of the primary sources of independent news coverage in rural areas, where two-thirds of the population lives. Even churches are supporting Mugabe. One of the largest church groups in the country, Apostolic Christian Council of Zimbabwe (ACCZ), launched earlier this month a sort of choose teaching, which recommended the participants to vote for ZANU-PF and called Mugabe's rival for the presidency as a "thief". Political reforms, if any, would be able to address such political violence and harassment of ZANU-PF's political opponents, the judicial system and the police inaction in relation to this, and media bias in favor of ZANU-PF, has been blocked by Mugabe.

The international community has clearly accepted that the elections will be "trustworthy" and "peaceful" and not "free and fair", according to ICG, which also points out that there seems to be no consensus on what "credible" means. But the possibility of free and fair elections in Zimbabwe is available. "If we want free and fair elections in Zimbabwe, we must do two things," says Wellington Zindove. "First, work through and strengthen support for local election bodies like Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. Second, countries such as Denmark, to a lesser degree work through South Africa to Zimbabwe and Mugabe that South Africa is slowly losing grip on. Instead, one must increasingly work through the African Union and the Southern African Development Community.”

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