MDC complains to election observers

With nine days to go before presidential elections, Zimbabwe's main opposition party on Wednesday reiterated its concerns that the current climate of political violence prevented a free and fair poll. In a submission to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) parliamentary forum, a Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) team said the violence "made it impossible to campaign". They raised concerns over the activities of pro-government militia in allegedly intimidating local communities, and draconian legislation which prevented the opposition from effectively canvassing. Grace Kwinjeh, who was among the three-member MDC team briefing SADC, told IRIN that a number of other key issues remained outstanding ahead of the 9-10 March election. She said that the MDC still had not had a chance to inspect the voters' roll, which was "one of the most contentious issues". Kwinjeh alleged there was a 30-45 percent reduction in polling stations in urban areas, that are expected to be MDC strongholds. Although there are 5.4 million registered voters, Kwinjeh said the MDC "had information" that seven million ballot papers had been printed. "We do not have much confidence in the voting process. We feel as a party we need to know who printed them [the ballot papers] and their serial numbers." Secretary-General of the SADC parliamentary forum, Kasuka Mutukwa, told IRIN that the MDC's concerns would be "crosschecked with the government side". But he added that the issues raised in the opposition's submission were rejected in a following briefing by a ruling ZANU-PF party team. With 66 observers, the SADC mission is the largest international team in Zimbabwe. Its members are to be deployed throughout the country on Thursday. "Our interest is to have a credible election," Mutukwa said. "When we go to the provinces we are going to assess the situation on the ground - how the preparations are going, how the campaign is being conducted."