Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Monday backed calls by regional grouping SADC for his archrival President Robert Mugabe to delay crucial polls due by the end of July.
"We have to hold elections by
October 31," Tsvangirai's spokesman Luke Tamborinyoka told AFP.
The constitutional court last month
ruled fresh polls have to be held by July 31, a date which Mugabe has backed,
but Tsvangirai wants electoral reforms passed first and argues the law allows
for three more months.
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| Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai |
Mugabe's ZANU-PF and Tsvangirai's MDC
parties have since 2009 been in an uneasy coalition formed in the aftermath of
deadly post-election violence the previous year.
On Saturday, the 15-country Southern
Africa Development Community urged Mugabe to request a delay from the
constitutional court.
The bloc also urged the 89-year-old
president to "undertake immediate measures to create a conducive
environment for the holding of peaceful, credible, free and fair
elections."
"SADC did not suggest a date. To
us the date is subservient to the reforms. The reforms should come first and
the latest we can have elections is by October 31," Tsvangirai's spokesman
said.
The prime minister argues that a July
deadline will not allow for free and fair polls. He wants reforms in the media
and security services, and says the voters' roll needs to be rid of ghost
voters before the elections.
He has said he would veto the polls if
reforms are not implemented but Mugabe has accused him of being afraid to lose.
"The other parties do not want
elections, they are afraid of elections," Mugabe was quoted as saying in
the state-owned Sunday Mail newspaper.
"They know they
are going to lose and it's a sure case that they are going to lose."SOWETAN
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