4 Time for accountability 2 Human rights violations perpetrated to maintain political power The human rights situation in Zimbabwe has been deteriorating since February 2000 when the ZANU-PF government of President Robert Mugabe lost a referendum on a draft constitution. This was the first defeat of the ZANU-PF government since the country gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1980. Before the formation of the MDC in 1999, Zimbabwe’s political landscape was dominated by a single party (ZANU-PF) which had managed to retain its political dominance by limiting the ability of opposition parties to organize, including by denying them access to state controlled radio, television and newspapers, using state resources to further a partisan agenda and undermining state institutions such as the judiciary which had shown a degree of independence. ZANU-PF’s tactics included harassment, intimidation and use of excessive force by police against the party’s opponents in opposition parties or civil society organizations. Their rights to peaceful assembly, freedom of association and expression were restricted, leaving them virtually unable to organize. The emergence of the MDC, a political party with support from the trade unions and civil society, posed a real threat to ZANU-PF’s hold on power and ZANU-PF won narrowly in a disputed parliamentary election held in June 2000.7 The MDC’s Morgan Tsvangirai also lost to Robert Mugabe of ZANU-PF in a disputed presidential election in 2002. Faced with increased opposition from the MDC, largely as a result of deteriorating economic conditions, and growing discontent among civil society, the Zimbabwean authorities increased restrictions on civil and political rights, mainly the rights to peaceful assembly, freedom of association and expression. Opponents of the ZANU-PF party were targeted for arbitrary arrest, arbitrary detention, and torture and other illtreatment. Confronted with the growth of an opposition and in the face of unprecedented economic decline, the ZANU-PF government increasingly relied on state security forces to retain power and to contain the growing opposition to its rule. The increasing reliance by the government on the security forces, and the participation of the security forces in serious human rights violations, were very clear in the violence by ZANU-PF in the campaign for the Presidential election run-off on 27 June 2008. Just five days before the 27 June presidential election run-off, Morgan Tsvangirai of the MDC pulled out of the election, saying a free and fair election was impossible because of extreme violence targeted at supporters of the MDC by the security forces. Although he pulled out of the election, the Zimbabwe Election Commission ruled that the election would go ahead as per the election rules. Amnesty International AI Index: AFR 46/028/2008