Mugabe confident of election win

Zimbabwe’s president said he is confident his party can win proposed elections, and he criticised opponents for losing sight of the nation’s future goals.

Robert Mugabe, addressing his Zanu PF party’s annual convention, said there was no need for coercive poll campaigning or political violence because voters supported his party’s “progressive ideas” to economically empower ordinary Zimbabweans.

Mugabe has called for elections next year to end a fragile 30-month coalition with the former opposition.

Addressing 6,000 delegates in Bulawayo, 87-year-old Mugabe said there was nothing to fear from opponents in prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s party that he claimed were pursuing personal and private agendas.