Mugabe says elections to be held in March

Zimbabwe will hold parliamentary elections around March next year, President Mugabe reportedly said at the weekend while addressing a state banquet for visiting Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham. Mugabe said the elections would follow a review of the constitution by the government-appointed National Constitutional Review Commission which is due to present its findings at the end of this month. The review process, however, has been dogged by controversy with human rights groups and opposition parties boycotting its proceedings, arguing its results will be manipulated by Mugabe’s ruling ZANU-PF party.