Country "needs to be normalised" before polls - MDC

The Zimbabwean opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said on Thursday the country "needs to be normalised" before elections can be held. MDC spokesman Paul Temba Nyathi was responding to an announcement on state radio that parliamentary elections would be held in March next year. President Robert Mugabe was also quoted as saying he had no plans to retire from politics. Nyathi told IRIN: "The atmosphere in the country is hardly conducive for holding free and fair elections. Has an independent election supervisory body set up by the government? Has the level of intimidation ceased? Do we have a free media - a major requirement for holding democratic elections?" The five-yearly elections would have had to be held before June 2005. In the last elections, in 2000, MDC won 57 of the 120 parliamentary seats. Another 12 members are nominated by the president, 10 seats are reserved for traditional leaders and eight seats are filled by provincial governors, bringing the total number of members in the Zimbabwean parliament to 150.