Zimbabwe PM to contest Mugabe for election date proclamation

Zimbabwe's Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Thursday said he will lodge an complaint to the Constitutional Court contesting his long-time rival President Robert Mugabe's proclamation of July 31 as the election date. Tsvangirai told a press conference that Mugabe had written to him earlier in the day saying he was proclaiming July 31 as the election date. Tsvangirai said he would not accept the date, casting new uncertainties at a sensitive time. The two political rivals were forced into a power-sharing government in 2009 after the last presidential election was shadowed by wide-ranging disputes. While both wanted the elections to end the turbulent four-year unity government, Mugabe, who analysts say has more confidence to win, has been pushing hard for early polls. Tsvangirai, on the other hand, wants more time and more reforms before holding the elections -- in August at earliest. In another move to fast-track process, Mugabe on Thursday gazetted amendments to electoral laws using his presidential powers and by- passing parliament to meet an earlier court ruling that elections should be held no later than July 31, 2013. In an extra-ordinary Government Gazette published Thursday, Mugabe said due to the urgency of the matter, it was inexpedient to await the passage through Parliament of an Act to deal with it. In gazetting the electoral law amendments using the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) Act, Mugabe said "given the deadline imposed by the Constitutional Court, it is inexpedient to await the passage through Parliament of an Act dealing with the situation." Tsvangirai, Mugabe's arch rival in polls since 2002, said that he would not agree to elections by July 31 unless key reforms are implemented in media and security sectors to ensure a fair vote. Tsvangirai's MDC-T party stresses that the polls may not be fair as the country's security forces and state media are heavily pro-Mugabe. The prime minister told civil leaders at a meeting in Harare on Tuesday that the president can not pronounce the date without consulting him as both are principals of the unity government. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is expected to hold a meeting this weekend in Maputo, Mozambique, to study the readiness of Zimbabwe for the elections. SADC is the key mediator in the formation of the unity government between Mugabe and Tsvangirai in 2009, following disputed 2008 polls. The SADC is also said to have intention to fund the cash- strapped Zimbabwean government about 132 million U.S. dollars it needs to conduct national polls. The meeting, which was originally planned on June 9, was shelved after Mugabe indicated that he was "too busy" to attend because of the pressing issues at the government. Mugabe, the 89-year-old Zimbabwean leader, is campaigning for a re-election to prolong his 33-year rule of the country since its independence in 1980. Several opinion surveys conducted earlier this year indicate that Mugabe has a better chance to win.