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Wallace Ruzvidzo Zimpapers Elections Desk
PRESIDENT Mnangagwa’s peace message has become the soundtrack of this August harmonised elections with political players and observers saluting the Second Republic for creating an environment that guarantees free expression.
This comes as all parties that want to contest in the forthcoming harmonised elections have been availed with a voters’ roll, are free to hold their rallies, and have been freely campaigning with no major hiccups.
The prevailing peace has been noted by pre-election observer missions like the African Union, Sadc, COMESA, and the European Union.
National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) leader and presidential candidate Professor Lovemore Madhuku said as political players, they are happy with the peaceful electoral environment.
“We are clearly happy that there is no violence and as a party, we do not want violence, so we are obviously very happy. My take is that the political environment is generally fine, but I think there is also a need for some improvements,” he said.
ZPCD’s Presidential candidate Mr Trust Chikohora said as a party, they welcome the peaceful environment ushered by the Second Republic.
“So far it has been generally peaceful and we hope that this will remain the case even after the results have been announced. We have not had any incidents and if we look at it from a broad scale, it has been peaceful,” he said.
Presidential candidate Mr Gwinyai Henry Muzorewa of the UANC party told The Herald that they were happy with the prevailing conducive political environment.
“So far so good. We are happy that the Second Republic has done the right thing in ensuring a peaceful environment. We have not seen elements of violence and we just pray that the environment remains like this through the election period because peace and unity are important,” he said.
Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) chairman Mr Elasto Mugwadi said it was encouraging to note that President Mnangagwa as the Head of State, was calling for peace at every turn.
“I suppose this is what we expect because if there is no peace, there is no development and we are happy because the environment is peaceful.
“The elections can only be deemed free, fair, and credible if there is peace and we are happy that at every opportunity, President Mnangagwa is calling for peace, we wish every political player could be like that,” he said.
National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) spokesperson Mr Obert Gutu said the current political landscape was peaceful.
“Peace is prevailing in Zimbabwe. Let peace continue to prevail before, during, and after the harmonised elections. A PEACEFUL ZIMBABWE FOR ALL GENERATIONS!” he tweeted on his official Twitter handle.
President Mnangagwa continues to reiterate the need for peace and tranquillity to prevail during the electoral period, while vehemently emphasising the Second Republic’s non-tolerance to all forms of violence.
Under the Second Republic, the media space has also been opened for all political players with all parties being afforded airspace on both radio and television by the national broadcaster ZBC, all in the spirit of promoting fairness.
Social media is also another arm that is being widely used for political campaigning and all political players have been using various platforms to convey their campaign messages with no interferences or deterrents.
Online Reporter