Mugabe sets election date

President Robert Mugabe said yesterday that Zimbabwe will hold general elections on 29 March, but the opposition denounced the date as a snub to regional mediation efforts to guarantee a fair vote.

The 83-year old leader, who has ruled the country since independence in 1980 and is running for another five-year term, said parliament would be dissolved the day before Zimbabweans vote in presidential and parliamentary elections.

But the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which has threatened to boycott the polls if they are not pushed back to June, said Mugabe's announcement was a slap in the face for South African-mediated talks between the rivals to hammer out a new constitution.

Critics accuse Mugabe of rigging previous elections, using tough security laws to keep his opponents in check and of economic mismanagement. Mugabe denies these charges.

The elections will take place against a backdrop of economic meltdown in what was once one of Africa's most prosperous economies, with the inflation rate officially at 8,000 percent, mass unemployment and severe food shortages.

"I do, by this proclamation dissolve parliament with effect from midnight, the 28th March 2008 and ... fix Saturday the 29th March as the day of the election to the office of President, the general election and the elections of councillors," Mugabe said.

The MDC slammed the announcement, which came amid efforts by South African President Thabo Mbeki to broker a political agreement between Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF and the opposition that was supposed to pave the way for the elections.

"What Mugabe has done is a slap in the face, not only of the MDC, but of Mbeki and the Southern African Development Community (SADC)," said Nelson Chamisa, an opposition spokesman.