Mick Hartley

By their friends ye shall know them:

Britain, continental countries and others critical of Mr Mugabe will be banned from sending monitors to oversee the freedom and fairness of the poll. Sudan and Libya have been chosen “on the basis of objectivity and impartiality in their relationship with Zimbabwe”, Simbarashe Mumbengegwi, the Foreign Minister, said.

“Clearly, those who believe that the only free and fair election is where the Opposition wins, have been excluded since the ruling party is poised to score yet another triumph,” he said.

Among the observer nations are Ethiopia, Nigeria, China, Iran, Venezuela and Kenya, where allegations of vote rigging sparked deadly ethnic violence in December.

Mr Mumbengegwi said that there was “one European nation” among the list of invited countries, and named Russia, where there are concerns over the election of Dmitri Medvedev, President Putin’s successor, as president last month.

The ruling party is poised to score yet another triumph. I think he might well be right.