Harare - Zimbabwe's main opposition party on Thursday lifted a threat to boycott March's parliamentary elections, saying it would take part even though conditions would still favour President Robert Mugabe's ruling party.
"It is with a heavy heart that the MDC has decided to participate in the elections," Movement for Democratic Change's spokesperson Paul Themba Nyathi told a news conference. "This is a decision based primarily on the demands of our people."
Formed in 1999, the MDC says it would have won parliamentary elections held in 2000 and a presidential vote two years later had it not been for electoral fraud and a campaign of violence against its supporters by Mugabe's Zanu-PF party.
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The MDC says electoral changes made so far, including the appointment of an independent electoral commission, still fall short of standards set by the 13-member Southern African Development Community (SADC).
"The (MDC national) council reviewed the extent to which the regime has complied with the party's demand for compliance with the SADC protocol and noted that the regime has failed and failed dismally to comply with those guidelines," Nyathi said.
"At the same time we note with regret the failure of the SADC of putting the regime on the spot and demanding the implementation of fair electoral standards in this country. Zimbabweans feel betrayed and let down by the region," he added.
Mugabe, who turns 81 this month, denies charges his party has rigged recent elections, and condemns the MDC as a stooge of Western powers out to unseat him over his forcible redistribution of white-owned commercial farms to landless blacks.
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