'Free vote possible' in Zimbabwe

Opposition supporters are feeling intimidated

Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon says he believes free and fair elections in Zimbabwe are possible, despite recent violence.

Mr Mugabe genuinely wants to let the international community see free and fair elections

Don McKinnon

Mr McKinnon's positive statements came as the World Bank announced the suspension of all new loans to Zimbabwe because of the country's failure to keep up with repayments on money previously borrowed.

The loans suspension on Tuesday is bound to make an already bad economic situation difficult in a country where interest rates are at 70%, half the workforce is unemployed and inflation is expected to average around 50% this year.

President Mugabe said he genuinely wants to reduce the violence

After talks with President Robert Mugabe earlier on Tuesday, Mr McKinnon said he believed the Zimbabwean leader was genuinely concerned about curbing the recent upsurge in political violence in the country.

"I believe it is possible to have a free election," he told reporters.

"There are concerns that people have been killed, obviously, and I have conveyed that [to Mugabe], but we hope to see the level of violence down very much," he added.

But the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has reacted negatively to Mr McKinnon's optimistic comments.

Opposition disappointment

MDC spokesman Learnmore Jongwe told the BBC he was extremely disappointed with Mr McKinnon's view that the elections could still be free and fair.

President Mugabe had announced late on Monday that long-awaited general elections were to be held on 24-25 June.

Don McKinnon: Many observers on the ground

His ruling Zanu-PF party is facing its strongest challenge since the country gained independence in 1980.

The MDC says it is ready to contest the poll, but fears that it will not be adequately monitored.

But Mr McKinnon said he received assurances from Mr Mugabe that many election observers would be on the ground in order to give people confidence about the polls being free and fair.

He added that Mr Mugabe concurred with all the concerns of the international community that he conveyed about the violence.

More than 40 Commonwealth observers will be in Zimbabwe for the elections.

Election confidence

The UK Foreign Office, reacting to the election announcement, said it was important that all parties could have confidence in the electoral process.

Under present conditions it is impossible to have free and fair elections, but we cannot extend the suffering of the people under Zanu-PF any more

Welshman Ncube, MDC secretary-general

"We have long been pressing for an election date within the period laid down in the constitution and for the elections to be free and fair," said a spokesman.

The Secretary-General of the opposition MDC, Welshman Ncube, said his party was ready to contest the election, but had a number of reservations.

"Under present conditions it is impossible to have free and fair elections, but we cannot extend the suffering of the people under Zanu-PF any more," he said.

The party questioned whether the correct legal procedures for drawing up constituency boundaries had been followed.

Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC have reservations

The election was postponed in March because of voter registration problems.

The MDC headed a "no" campaign in a constitutional referendum earlier this year, giving Mr Mugabe his first poll defeat since independence 20 years ago.

The president does not face re-election himself until 2002.

Economic woes

Tuesday's talks came against a backdrop of widespread intimidation of the opposition by government supporters and the explosive issue of land reform.

At least 20 people, mostly opposition supporters and white farmers, have been killed in political violence.

More than 1,200 white-owned farms have been illegally occupied by self-styled war veterans, who say the land was stolen under British colonial rule.

President Mugabe's government is also coming under increasing economic pressure from international financial institutions and donor nations.

The suspension of all new loans by the World Bank is expected to affect many infrastructure projects in the country, including roads, rural development and agriculture.