Harare — Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s ruling party is discussing using a press clampdown and intimidation in rural areas to thwart a newly united opposition’s challenge to its three-decade rule in elections next year, according to three senior officials with knowledge of the matter. Officials of Zanu (PF) are increasingly concerned the health of Mugabe, 93, may undermine his campaign and alternative candidates would struggle to beat a coalition of parties united behind opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), according to the members of the party’s politburo who asked not to be identified because the discussions have not been made public. Among the methods being discussed were police clampdowns on opposition rallies and using state-controlled media to target opposition figures for alleged misbehaviour in their private lives and alleged meetings with Western diplomats, the officials said. No final decision had been taken on more violent tact...
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