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Three crucial election observer missions to the harmonised elections yesterday released their preliminary reports upholding the polls as free, fair, credible and expressing the will of Zimbabweans. The African Union, Sadc and Chinese observer missions heads said those defeated should work with the winners instead of fomenting violence.
Head of the AU observer mission General Olusegun Obasanjo said the few challenges faced during the elections did not hinder Zimbabweans from freely expressing their will.
He was speaking during the presentation of the mission’s preliminary report of the elections.
“I have never seen an election that is perfect,” said Gen Obasanjo. “The point has always been and will always be, how much the infractions, imperfections have affected the reflection of the will of the people and up to the point of the close of the polls our observation was that there were incidents that could have been avoided.
In fact, up to the close of the polls we do not believe that those incidents will amount to the result not to reflect the will of the people.”
Gen Obasanjo said while the credibility of the polls would be announced in the final report to be released within a month, the AU observer mission noted that people who wanted to vote had been given the opportunity to do so freely and without intimidation.
It was premature, he said, to determine the number of people that had been turned away, but said some people did not know the requirements to enable them to vote.
“Some people were prevented from voting, but we have to note how legitimate they were,” he said. “Were they people who were eligible to vote? Because we found out that some people thought that when they had an ID that was enough to vote. But we were made to understand that IDs belonged to everyone and that you must also have registered to be allowed to vote.”
The Sadc Election Observer Mission said the elections were conducted well and urged political party leaders to respect and accept the election results, saying whoever was aggrieved should not resort to violence, but engage in dialogue or go to the courts.
Responding to statements by MDC-T leader Mr Morgan Tsvangirai declaring the election as a farce, head of the Sadc observer mission Mr Bernad Kamillius Membe called for political maturity and tolerance.
“A lot of words can be said, but when the dust settles I am sure he will retract the statement,” he said. “These elections under the circumstances have been conducted well. Elections in the world are not perfect. In the course of observing the elections, the mission noted that there was general adherence to the relevant national legal instruments and the Sadc Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections.”
Mr Membe said the best democratic practices and lessons in the Zimbabwean elections were observed, among them the continuous call for peace by political leaders, availability of ZEC to observers’ enquiries despite workload, ZEC’s readiness to accept responsibility and address the challenges arising from the electoral process. He said they noticed the existence of a multi-party liaison committee, prompt accreditation of observers, use of indelible ink to prevent double voting and the use of translucent ballot boxes.
He said in the main, the electoral process was characterised by an atmosphere of peace and political tolerance as political parties and candidates were able to freely undertake their political activities unhindered.
“SEOM wishes to take this opportunity to congratulate the people of Zimbabwe for turning up in large numbers to exercise their democratic right to choose their political leaders,” said Mr Membe.
“A new chapter in the process of consolidation of democracy in Zimbabwe has been opened and we hope that the people of Zimbabwe will work together to build their country. This is a major step in the implementation of the GPA and I, therefore, would like to take this opportunity to urge the political leadership and all the people of Zimbabwe to uphold peace and stability.”
Mr Membe implored all Zimbabweans to exercise restraint, patience and calm and encouraged the implementation of Section 248 (12)( 5) of the Constitution which calls for media reforms.
The Chinese election observer team endorsed the harmonised elections as free, fair and credible and urged those dissatisfied with the results to peacefully follow the legal route in contesting the outcome.
Head of the observer team Ambassador Lin Guijin urged Zimbabweans to maintain the peace that prevailed during the harmonised elections and to unite towards the development of the country.
“From what we saw, we can safely conclude that the process was transparent, orderly, free, fair and credible,” he said.
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