PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe says he will “definitely” call elections this year to end a fragile three-year coalition with the former opposition and describes as cowards politicians who say polls cannot be held until well into 2013.
In an interview to mark his 88th birthday in the state media Sunday, Mugabe dismissed objections to early polls.
“That (objections) is what cowards say. Elections can happen at any time. ... Definitely yes this year," he said.
Mugabe turns 88 Tuesday. Speaking to the loyalist Sunday Mail newspaper, he said money will be found to pay for presidential and parliament elections.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s party says polling cannot go ahead until constitutional reforms are complete, and rights groups have warned of an imminent upsurge of election violence.
Mugabe also vowed to block the new constitution if it contains a controversial clause regarding age and term limits for Presidents which his Zanu PF party claims is targeted at its candidate.
A draft of the constitution publised recently proposes a limited presidential term of 10 years and prohibiting candidates older than 70 years of age.
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Mugabe said his rivals were pushing the clause because they had failed to defeat him in elections.
"We wanted to get the views of the people. Whether President Mugabe should stand (for the next election) or gays should wed is something else,” he said.
“If the President stands, what prevents the constitution from going forward? It is the thinking of the MDC. They are afraid. They are just cowards. Vanotya kudyiwa nekuti VaMugabe vanovatya (They are afraid of being defeated by President Mugabe."
"The issue is that what is not the views of the people and not in the present constitution or has not been discussed, we will reject.”
The country is writing a new constitution as part of reforms expected to culminate in fresh elections.
The process has however been undermined by the lack of funding as well disputes between the political parties.
Zanu PF surrogates recently demanded the sacking of the drafters claiming they were ignoring public views gathered during a nationwide outreach exercise.
Meanwhile, Mugabe also acknowledged that there were "negative forces" along with factions who had wanted to see him defeated in the disputed 2008 elections.
He also ruled out grooming a successor.
"There is no one who can stand and win at the moment," he said, adding to that to groom a successor "will cause much more division in the party."
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