'Zanu-PF will win for over 100 years if sanctions are not removed'

Bernard Membe, the head of the SADC election observer mission to the recently held Zimbabwe harmonized elections told a press briefing in Harare that it is going to be difficult for opposition parties to win any election in Zimbabwe if the sanctions issue is not resolve.

Membe is in Harare to present the election report.
 
Membe told the press that SADC will engage the EU to push for the complete removal of sanctions on the southern African country.

"Let me tell you this with passion from the bottom of my heart and I wish the opposition was listening to this; if sanctions remain, it will be very difficult for the opposition to win elections. Once the voters are told that you are suffering because of sanctions yet you have agents that are playing in favour of these sanctions in the country, you are putting yourselves in a very awkward position to win the elections."

"The question of appealing to the world on the removal of sanctions is fundamental not only to the people of Zimbabwe but also the region, otherwise if it remains like this Zanu-PF will prevail for over 100 years to come," Membe said.

Membe said while the observer mission agrees that some issues were flawed, there are also many elements that were put together to enable the election to be credible.

Overall, however, the polls were "free, peaceful and generally credible", Membe added.

President Robert Mugabe won Zimbabwe's 31 July elections with 61% of votes, followed by former prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai with 34%.

Tsvangirai refuses to recognise the outcome, saying his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party received the voters' roll only on the eve of the elections, which made it impossible to audit the register of 6.4 million people.

After the election results were announced, the MDC challenged Mugabe's victory, but Zimbabwe's constitutional court dismissed the case.