Politics
Zimbabwe: Southern African Development Community to help fund election
(Reuters) – Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said regional leaders will hold a summit to discuss how to fund an election later this year.
Cash strapped Zimbabwe needs US$132 million for the election but conditions attached to the cash have divided the already fractious unity government, whose main players will be rivals for power in the vote.
The incumbent ruling party, the ZANU-PF of President Mugabe has been pushing for funding with as few strings as possible – claiming that conditions attached to such funding would interfere in the country’s domestic issues.
The MDC of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is keen to attach the money to the deployment of election observers. It fears ZANU-PF, will interfere with the vote.
Zimbabwe based Herald newspaper said South African President Jacob Zuma proposed to Southern African Development Community (SADC) leaders at a meeting on the sidelines of the just-ended African Union summit that they should help fund Zimbabwe’s elections.
“We said we now want to go for elections and we need help and they (SADC leaders) said they will hold a special summit to examine how they will help with election funding,” Mugabe was quoted as telling ZANU-PF members after the African Union summit.
Election observers from the Southern African Development Community could be a compromise amenable to Mugabe, who regularly rails against the West for imposing sanctions he blames for ruining an economy.
Mugabe, will face long-time rival Tsvangirai in the vote.
Both leaders displayed rare unity this year in pushing through a new constitution that curbs presidential powers and imposes term limits at a referendum, a critical step for the election.
Zimbabwe’s parliament will be dissolved on June 29 and the country has up to four months to hold the election.
The Supreme Court last Friday heard a case in which a Harare man wants to force Mugabe to announce an election date before June 29. A ruling on the case was expected to come soon.