FORMER United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan on Friday met separately with Zanu PF leader President Emmerson Mnangagwa and MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa ahead of elections on July 30.
Annan arrived in Zimbabwe on Thursday for meetings with political parties and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.
In advance comments, he said the purpose of the trip was to “promote best practices for electoral integrity.”
“The people of Zimbabwe deserve free, fair and peaceful expression of democratic will,” he said.
Following his meeting with Mnangagwa, Annan said he would only speak to the media on Saturday at the end of the three-day trip.
Annan is a member of the Elders, a group of former statesmen “working for peace and human rights”.
Annan is travelling with Mary Robinson, the former President of Ireland and Lakhdar Brahimi, the former Foreign Minister of Algeria.
The group has already met with smaller opposition parties.
The Elders’ visit coincides with growing opposition anger at the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, which is accused of printing ballot papers in secret; bungling the postal ballot; withholding the voters’ roll; leaking voters’ phone numbers to Zanu PF and designing an illegal ballot paper that places Mnangagwa at the top.
Annan’s team is keen to avert a disputed election which would sink Zimbabwe deeper into an economic and political crisis.
