Peaceful elections are necessary for a stable democracy

The human rights organisation called on President Mugabe, the government and the police authorities of Zimbabwe to ensure that this electoral process is peaceful.

In the run-up to the elections Amnesty International calls for:

- an end to politically motivated violence and intimidation of supporters of opposition parties;

- freedom of expression, which includes journalists having the freedom to travel and report without being intimidated;

- freedom of assembly and association, to ensure that all people can participate in rallies of any political parties without fear of intimidation or violence;

- impartial policing of all pre-election activities and investigation of any incidents of human rights abuses, regardless of the political affiliation of the perpetrators or the victims.

In addition, the human rights organisation called on foreign governments who are going to send electoral monitors to Zimbabwe to ensure that these monitors will have a human rights mandate.