HARARE, Zimbabwe (AFP) ? Zimbabwe's electoral commission is broke and will not able to organise elections this year unless it gets more cash, a state-owned newspaper reported Sunday.
President Robert Mugabe's party last week insisted presidential elections be held this year, a reversal from its previous stance that would have put the vote in 2012 at the earliest.
"Zimbabwe Electoral Commission chair, retired Justice Simpson Mutambanengwe, says the electoral body is broke and will not be in a position to conduct elections anytime soon if its present financial status does not change," The Sunday Mail reported.
"From what we were allocated by treasury, Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has only been given $8.5 million," The Sunday Mail quoted Mutambanengwe as saying.
"We are barely surviving. There is no money."
Negotiators from Mugabe's ZANU-PF and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change parties agreed on July 6 to a timeline for election preparations that would have put the polls in 2012.
The roadmap set down a timeframe of 45 days to complete new electoral laws, followed by 30 days for voter education and two months to prepare a new voter roll.
No decision was made on the date for a referendum on a new constitution.
Under Zimbabwe's unity accord, signed after violent and inconclusive presidential elections in 2008, a new constitution must be approved by referendum before new general elections.
The constitution-writing process is running a year behind schedule. Drafters have set September as the target for a referendum, but repeated delays have cast doubt on the date.
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