Mugabe Calls on Citizens to Refrain From Violence Ahead of Presidential Run-off

President Robert Mugabe on Sunday pleaded for unity within his ruling party as Zimbabwe gears up for next month’s do-or-die presidential election run-off that could seal his fate.

With just over four weeks to go before the presidential run-off, the long-serving Zimbabwean leader castigated divisions within ZANU PF that he blamed for the party’s dismal showing in the general elections held in March.

“The divisions must go. We must put our house in order so as not to give our common enemy room to destroy us,” President Mugabe said during the launch of his re-election campaign in the capital, Harare.

ZANU PF was rocked by high-level defections ahead of the March 29 elections as signs of widening fissures began to appear.

The run-off election is being held after the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) said the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)’s Morgan Tsvangirai defeated Mugabe in the first round but failed to garner more than 50 percent of the vote required to takeover the presidency.

According to the ZEC, Tsvangirai took 47.9 percent of the vote against Mugabe’s 43.2 percent in the first round election.

The MDC also defeated Mugabe’s ruling ZANU PF party in a parallel parliamentary poll, winning 109 seats to end the ruling party’s 28-year dominance of Parliament. ZANU PF won 97 seats.

Mugabe urged his supporters to ensure they campaigned in a peaceful environment by avoiding acts of violence.

At least 40 people have died in political violence since early April.

Source African Press Agency

Net News Publisher