Nigeria on Thursday added its voice to the growing international pressure on Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe over an election in which the opposition candidate has withdrawn in protest over violence.
The Nigerian government was “deeply concerned” at the prospect of polls on Friday “from which the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has withdrawn its participation because of an unacceptable risk to the lives and property of its followers,” it said in a statement.
“In the present circumstances, it is doubtful if a credible run-off election can be held in Zimbabwe,” it added.
International criticism of Mugabe been intensified in the run-up to the election with former South African President Nelson Mandela speaking of a “tragic failure of leadership in our neighbouring Zimbabwe” in a rare public statement on the crisis.
US President George W. Bush has said the polls “appear to be a sham.”
The MDC says more than 80 of its supporters have been killed and thousands injured in a campaign of intimidation in the approach to the run-off vote which was triggered by MDC candidate Morgan Tsvangirai’s victory in the first round vote on March 29.