ZIMBABWE ELECTION WATCH – ISSUE 19

For the March 2005 elections, Sokwanele, a Zimbabwean civic action support group campaigning for freedom and democracy, initiated a pre-election monitoring programme in the form of regular Election Watch reports.  The objective was to log examples of failures by the government to adhere to the SADC Principles and Guidelines for Democratic Elections, which Zimbabwe has formally agreed to uphold.

In July 2007, Sokwanele re-launched its election monitoring report as “Zimbabwe Election Watch” to track the government’s performance throughout the eight months preceding the 2008 elections.

The introduction to our second report for March follows.  For previous issues of Zimbabwe Election Watch, log onto our website:  www.sokwanele.com

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Observer mission selection criticised as partisan

A Southern African Development Community (SADC) observer mission comprising about 80 officials from the region was due to arrive in the Zimbabwean capital of Harare on Sunday – 19 days ahead of the March 29 elections.   

SADC said it expected to have around 150 observer delegates in place before the combined presidential, parliamentary, senate and local government elections.

South Africa is due to send an observer mission with 54 members drawn from government, parliament, the political opposition and civil society.  South Africa has previously observed elections in Zimbabwe independently, but for this crucial election, the group will operate under the auspices of SADC.  The controversial 2005 election was endorsed by South Africa, generating widespread criticism.

The South African-based Electoral Institute of Southern Africa has sought permission to send observers, but a spokesman for the group said it awaited a response from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. An application was also under consideration from the Parliamentary Forum of SADC, whose application to send observers to the 2005 general elections was turned down.

The Zimbabwean government announced last Friday that European Union member states, the United States and the Commonwealth had been excluded from the list of observers to be invited.  The only European country to be invited is Russia.  China, now a major trading partner and provider of surveillance equipment, is also on the list.

The EU and USA both imposed targeted sanctions on President Mugabe and his inner circle after widespread allegations that he had rigged his re-election in 2002.

Expressing grave concern about the biased selection of observer groups, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party led by Morgan Tsvangirai said it showed the government had a lot to hide.   

Similar criticism came from the Law Society of Zimbabwe, which said the exclusion of Western monitors highlighted the democratic deficit.   

The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), a domestic election-monitoring and observation group, had to submit applications for election observers to the Ministry of Justice.  The ZESN said it would face major difficulties if its observer applications were rejected.