Africa

Africa

Zimbabwe PM threatens to boycott polls

13 June 2013 04:42 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Zimbabwe's prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Wednesday threatened to boycott general elections to be held before July 31 unless key reforms in media and security sectors are implemented, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

President Robert Mugabe, who is in a unity government with his long-time rival Tsvangirai, has yet to announce the date for presidential, parliamentary, and local elections. But the country's highest court has recently ruled that the polls shall not be held later than July 31, 2013.

Tsvangirai's party, however, stresses that the polls may not be fair as the country's security forces and state media are heavily pro-Mugabe.

Tsvangirai told civil leaders at a meeting in Harare that the president can not pronounce the date without consulting him as both are principals of the unity government. The prime minister also said he would advice the president to postpone the polls despite the court ruling.

Meanwhile, the regional bloc Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) has announced that it will hold a special summit this weekend in the Mozambican capital Maputo to deal with the Zimbabwe's preparations for elections.

SADC, which brokered the unity government four years ago following the last disputed polls, is also expected to address the funding shortages Harare faces for the election process. Officials estimate that the cash-strapped government needs about 130 million U.S. dollars.