AU observers meet Zimbabwe PM over election

Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Tuesday met with the African Union Observer team in the country to assess the political situation. Tsvangirai updated the three-member team on political developments in the country including issues around the Constitutional Court ruling and the ongoing voter registration, his spokesperson Luke Tamborinyoka said. The observer team is part of the nine members of the AU Observer team that arrived in the country ahead of the crunch elections that will likely pit Mugabe and Tsvangirai as the major contenders for the presidential post. The two have been in a fragile coalition government since 2009 when SADC brokered the power-sharing deal following violent and disputed elections the previous year. The Constitutional Court recently ruled that national elections must be held by July 31. President Robert Mugabe subsequently set July 31 as the poll date. However, Mugabe rivals in the coalition government - Tsvangirai and Industry and Commerce Minister Welshman Ncube - rejected the date and lobbied the Southern African Development Community (SADC) at a special summit in Maputo, Mozambique to have the date deferred to allow for implementation of reforms necessary for the holding of free and fair polls. In response, SADC urged the Zimbabwe government to defer the elections and tasked Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa to file an application at the Constitutional Court seeking an extension of the elections beyond July 31. Chinamasa has filed the application seeking to move the election date from July 31 to August 14, a position that is again being rejected by Tsvangirai and Ncube who argue that Mugabe acted unilaterally in filing the application and setting the new date. The Constitutional Court is expected to hear arguments on the application on Wednesday. "The application (by Chinamasa) is a unilateral position. It's not a government position as was directed by SADC and the application is doomed to fail," Tamborinyoka said.