AU, Sadc observers meet President

Harare Bureau
Head of the African Union Observer Mission to the harmonised election and former Nigerian President General Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday expressed satisfaction with Zimbabwe’s preparations ahead of today’s polls.Gen Obasanjo said this soon after meeting President Mugabe at State House yesterday.

“I have come to touch base with the President (Mugabe) and tell him how I see things going, so far so good and I wish this country all the good fortune that this country can have,” he said.

Gen Obasanjo added that he had been briefed by various stakeholders that include Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, the police and others who expressed their readiness for the polls. “From what I have heard from ZEC, from what I have heard from the security, everybody is prepared and tomorrow we will be out there in the field to see the action,” he said.

The former Nigerian president also acknowledged challenges that the country was facing, saying no country had a perfect election. “From what I have seen you can never talk of a perfect election anywhere in the world, it is only God’s action that is perfect not us humans but the preparations that have been made are adequate,” he said.

The head of the Sadc Observer Mission and Tanzanian Foreign Minister Mr Bernard Membe also paid a courtesy call on President Mugabe and also expressed satisfaction at the peaceful environment prevailing in the country.

“At this stage what I must applaud all Zimbabweans is that what we get from the entire observation mission across the country is that there is tranquility, peace and violence free elections and this we have recorded.

“This is impressive because if you went to other countries this time people will be running up and down but at least we are getting reports that it is a violence free environment. That is what we expect tomorrow, we should maintain this degree of violence free,” he said.

Mr Membe urged Zimbabweans to come all out in their numbers to cast their vote today. Mr Membe was in the country to observe the referendum and his team also said the elections were free, fair and legitimate.

On Monday US ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mr Bruce Wharton and his Swedish counterpart Mr Lars Ronnas also applauded Zimbabweans for maintaining peace during the run up to the elections while the EU envoy Mr Aldo Dell’Ariccia also made similar remarks two weeks ago.