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Commonwealth accused of rubber-stamping elections

    NAIROBI

    Margaret Dongo, the president of the opposition Zimbabwe Union of Democrats (ZUD), has accused the commonwealth secretary-general, Don McKinnon, of “rubber-stamping a fraudulent election process”, Zimbabwe news reports said on Monday.

    McKinnon said last week that he was convinced elections in Zimbabwe could be free and fair. Dongo said McKinnon’s optimism was “unfortunate” because he had not fully “acquainted himself with the situation in the country”.

    “McKinnon should watch his words. It is unfortunate that McKinnon, after being hosted by Mugabe, goes on to announce that elections could be fair when people are being killed and campaigns by the opposition are being crippled through violence by the ruling party. He should have travelled around the country to see how the opposition has been terrorised,” she said.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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