Zimbabwean leader pledges 'free and fair' elections this year

HARARE, Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe's president has promised "free and fair" elections in the upcoming polls later this year.

"My government has put measures in place to ensure free, fair and credible elections. We must all say, 'No to violence,' before, during, and after elections," Emmerson Mnangagwa said Tuesday at a rally on the Southern African nation's independence day on Tuesday

Speaking in Mount Darwin, a northwestern agricultural town, the 80-year-old leader of the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU – PF) said the polls were drawing nearer and called for peace.

"I call on the nation to remain vigilant and protect our hard-won independence. No voices, foreign or local, inclusive of rogue NGOs, should sow seeds of division and disharmony among us.

"Unity and peace should be preached in our families, churches, and communities. Dialogue and tolerance have been the hallmark of the Second Republic," he added.

Mnangagwa's sentiments came barely a week after marathon talks in the capital Harare between the Southern African Development Community's (SADC) Electoral Advisory Council, opposition leader Nelson Chamisa, the ZANU – PF, and various civil society groups, on the upcoming polls.

The main issue, according to Chamisa, was the failure of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to avail an electronic voter's roll, along with continued restrictions on his party to hold rallies, among others.

For the past two decades, Zimbabwean polls have been marred with political violence and contested results, with the opposition claiming that votes had been rigged.

In 2008, Morgan Tsvangirai, the late leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), agreed to form a Government of National Unity with the late President Robert Mugabe.

Even if Morgan Tsvangirai won the polls, he failed to garner enough votes to get the majority rule with over 50%.

This led to a run-off between him and Mugabe, that saw hundreds of mainly opposition supporters getting killed in the ensuing violence.

In 2018, Tsvangirai's successor Chamisa claimed victory in the presidential polls but claimed rigging.

He lodged a petition later thrown out by the Constitutional Court, which also worked as an Electoral Court, thereby declaring Mnangagwa the winner of the race.