HARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said Friday his party will have to fight hard to win upcoming polls scheduled for the end of this month and ensure its political survival after three decades in power.
Speaking at the launch of his ZANU-PF party's election manifesto, Mugabe said his party will put up a "fight of our lives" to regain waning support in urban areas, strongholds of his main political opponent, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
"We have come here to regain what we lost along the way," he said. "This one will be a fight of our lives, we have to battle for survival."
Mugabe's party has been repeatedly accused of political violence, intimidation and vote-rigging in the last three general elections since 2000.
Mugabe, who was forced to form a tenuous coalition government with Tsvangirai by regional leaders after violent and disputed elections in 2008, has ruled the southern African nation since independence from colonial rule in 1980.
Mugabe, 89, will face Tsvangirai, 61, in the national vote he has set for July 31, following a May court ruling ordering him to call for early polls.
Mugabe's partners in the coalition had appealed against the July election, but the Constitutional Court, the nation's highest court, upheld the date on Thursday.
Tsvangirai had asked for a delay of at least 25 days to give time to institute democratic reforms and changes to electoral laws to allow for a free and fair ballot.