President Robert Mugabe filed a request with the top court in Zimbabwe to stop the nation’s elections for two weeks, his minister of justice said on Wednesday.
The papers were filed on Tuesday to delay “the date of the harmonized elections from July 31, 2013, to August 14, 2013,” said Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, in an Agence France-Presse report.
The filing comes on the heels from pressure from Southern African leaders for the government to give more time for democratic reforms to take effect. Mr. Chinamasa said he was approached on Saturday by Southern African delegates and “directed to make an urgent application before this honorable court to seek a postponement,” the court filing stated, AFP reported.
The elections will decide who will lead in the nation’s power-sharing government — a rather uncomfortable set-up that was created four years ago to end a decade of violence among political factions, AFP said.
It’s not clear how the court would rule, AFP reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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