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Senior Reporter
Outgoing EU ambassador to Zimbabwe Timo Olkkonen has commended the peaceful climate of the 2018 harmonised elections and has urged Zimbabweans to maintain the same open democratic space for the 2023 elections.
Ambassador Olkkonen said this when he bid farewell to Speaker of the National Assembly Advocate Jacob Mudenda at Parliament building yesterday.
“We hope that in the run up to the election the democratic space will remain open for different political parties to contest in a free environment.
“That is what happened in 2018, the campaign period was largely free, there was opportunities to meet and assemble and this is important in democratic processes and we need to replicate it in the run up to the next elections,” he said.
Most observers to the 2018 harmonised elections described them as free and fair with the only blemish coming a day after the polls when MDC-A supporters rioted and looted in central Harare that led to the loss of six lives.
Ambassador Olkkonen said he would market Zimbabwe as a tourist destination due to the abundance of attractions in the country.
He said dialogue between Zimbabwe and EU would continue despite their different views of the human rights situation in the country.
Advocate Mudenda thanked the EU for the assistance it was giving to Parliament especially the work of the committee and capacity building of legislators.
Ambassador Olkkonen has been EU representative to Zimbabwe since 2018.
Online Reporter