24th July, 2018
Voter intimidation, threats of violence and coercion including people forced to attend political rallies are being increasingly reported ahead of Zimbabwe’s elections on July 30, especially in rural areas.
“There has also been the worrying use of disparaging language against female political candidates,” UN human rights spokesperson Elizabeth Throssell told a news conference in Geneva.
“We call on the authorities – and political parties and their supporters – to ensure that the elections are not marred by such acts so that all Zimbabweans can participate free from fear in a credible election process,” she said.
General elections are scheduled to be held in Zimbabwe on July 30 to elect the President
and members of both houses of Parliament.
A record-breaking 23 people have put themselves forward to lead the Zimbabwe.
Among those signed up to contest the presidency is incumbent President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who took power in November 2017 after long-term leader Robert Mugabe was ousted in a coup. Mnangagwa is Mugabe’s former deputy, and represents Zimbabwe’s ZANU PF party.
Also with his name on the ticket is Nelson Chamisa, the young leader of Zimbabwe’s main opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change.
Mnangagawa has pushed reform in Zimbabwe in an attempt to heal the economic wounds left from previous decades of mismanagement, which resulted in hyperinflation.
He has courted foreign investors, and when launching the ZANU PF manifesto in early May, said that 11 billion dollars had been committed.
Zimbabwe has also applied to re-join the Commonwealth, a bloc of former U.K. colonies which could bear economic fruit.