Election Date Set for March 29

An extraordinary government gazette issued yesterday contained a presidential proclamation dissolving Parliament and fixing the election date on Saturday, March 29.
The nomination court will set on Friday, February 8, according to the gazette.
The gazette did not state when was the last day for registering voters for the joint presidential, parliamentary and municipal elections.
But out of a population of roughly 11.9 million, about 5,6 million voters have registered for the elections, according to the head of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commision, George Chiweshe.
The opposition MDC insists that the country is not ready for the election and say they haven’t even seen a copy of the delimitation report, demarcating constituency boundaries.
Mugabe has snubbed opposition calls for a postponement of the poll, and said the opposition had been advised well in advance that elections would be in March. The MDC has threatened to boycott the poll is the ZEC is not reconstituted.
Opposition supporters were this week clobbered as they attempted to march pressing for postponement of the elections to allow for political reforms and a new constitution before the poll.
Analysts say Mugabe’s ruling Zanu (PF) party is expected to lose heavily to the opposition, and that an unprecedented economic meltdown could hand Zanu (PF) a protest vote.
Meanwhile, the United People’s Party launched its presidential campaign late yesterday. UPP president Daniel Shumba, an ex-Zanu (PF) member, said his party was pushing for a postponement of the poll for at least six months to allow for political reforms.