Many of Ethiopia's opposition leaders were imprisoned after the election of 2005 on trumped-up treason charges; after a year or more, they were freed.
He still has time to win over critics before the election, for instance by freeing an imprisoned opposition leader, Birtukan Mideksa, as a goodwill gesture.
Earlier this year, after opposition leaders had been arrested and beaten up, he called for street protests and, later, for foreign intervention to oust Mr Mugabe.
The opposition leader Antonis Samaras rejected a government plea for cross-party unity, saying he couldn't endorse a plan which, in his words, would flatten the economy and destroy Greek society.
Mr Maehara blundered during a brief stint as opposition leader five years ago, and he quit as foreign minister in March over a fuss about an illegal donation from a Korean woman.
Perez said the challenge is for all opposition leaders to be prepared to work with the government and Socialist lawmakers to help the country.
Ms Tymoshenko is still to reinvent herself as an opposition leader. The media have yet to recover their integrity and professionalism.
The opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi alleges massive fraud in the election, saying he is the rightful winner, not Ahmadinejad.
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