Eleven candidates have been approved by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to run in the upcoming presidential elections, while ten more have been rejected with four days to appeal the decision.
Approved candidates include incumbent President Emmerson Mnangagwa and opposition leader Nelson Chamisa. Mnangagwa and Chamisa are expected to be the main contenders for votes.
Douglas Mwonzora, the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change party, and Savion Kasukuwere, a close associate of former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, are also among those allowed to run in the election.
The presidential election will be held in the context of a severe economic crisis in part resulting from the 20-year period of Westen sanctions.
Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa has denounced Western sanctions as being designed to "cripple our economy" and lead to the "installation of a puppet government", pointing out that despite considerable pressure, "nothing of the sort has happened".
Speaking to Sputnik Africa, Martin Zharare, the executive director of Citizens Against Economic Sanctions (CAES), stated that sanctions serve as a Western instrument for regime change.
"These sanctions are being used as a regime change by the Americans and the British and Australians, the Canadians and actually everybody. It is only the people of China and the Russians who are supporting us, who really know what America is up to," he stated.