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Zimbabwe: President Mugabe announces March 16 as Referendum date on new constitution
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s former opposition party, in a shaky coalition with Mugabe, has called for the suspension of sweeping security laws in the run-up to vote on the constitution. Under those laws, police clearance is required for political gatherings. Party leaders say they need to explain the often obtuse legal language of the draft constitution.
Suspension or repeal of the draconian Public Order and Security Act, used to entrench the arrest and detention powers of loyalist police and military in a decade of political and economic turmoil, is opposed by Mugabe’s hardliners.
Mugabe’s announcement Friday did not take into account requests by Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change party for the referendum poll to be carried over to a second day.
All the country’s political leaders have called for a referendum ‘Yes’ vote to allow the constitution to be accepted and signed into law by Mugabe without any further changes.
An estimated US$200 million is required to pay for the referendum and the parliamentary and presidential elections, possibly three months later this year.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press
