Non-governmental organisations have warned that efforts by President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party to push for elections in 2011 are likely to cause a slide back to the 2008 era of Zimbabwe's socio-economic and political crisis.

Mugabe recently declared that elections would be held at the expiry of the life span of the Global Political Agreement signed by the country's three principals, namely himself, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara.

He also hinted polls could be held by June next year.

In an interview, the National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations Western Region chairperson, Godwin Phiri, said a recent annual general meeting of the organisation had resolved to advocate for a delay in the holding of the polls.

He said stakeholders that attended the conference in Bulawayo had been unanimous that the country was not ready for the holding of elections.

"The NANGO directors that met in Bulawayo recently agreed that the situation in the country is still not yet ripe for elections," said Phiri.

He added: "There was a general feeling that a lot still needed to be attended to so that the ground could be laid for a free and fair election.

"At the moment, there is a consensus that the environment is still not suitable for any election."

According to Phiri, partners in the government of national unity still need to put in place key reforms that would then become the basis for a free and fair election.

"In the absence of key reforms in sectors such as security, and in the absence of reforms around the electoral framework, as a bloc, we believe Zimbabwe cannot hold a free and fair election. We are of the firm belief that the elections, if hurriedly held, are likely to produce results that will not reflect the wishes and aspirations of the people of Zimbabwe," Phiri said.

He also pointed out that Zimbabwe still needed to produce a voters' roll that would be used to run the election.

Some of the issues the NANGO stakeholders raised as needing attention include the independence of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), opening up of media space, opening up of the broadcasting sector and the repeal of laws such as Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) and the Public Order and Security Act (POSA).

Hundreds of thousands of ghost voters are still on the current voters' roll, according to the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

"The national healing process, which we expected to bring about the healing of wounds sustained during the bloodshed 2008 election, is still yet to cover significant ground.

"If we are to go for an election now, with the wounds still yet to heal, we are likely to have a situation where there is resurgence of political violence, as victims of the 2008 election seek to revenge the pain inflicted upon them," Phiri said.

NANGO stakeholders also demanded that the ongoing constitutional outreach programme must be concluded before an election could be held.