In a preliminary report it made public on Monday, the observer mission questioned the transparency and credibility of the election despite the peaceful environment.
“The Mission found the electoral process to be severely wanting in respect of fairness as most of the critical aspects of the process lacked transparency. At the time of compiling this interim statement, the tabulation of results was still unfolding and was painstakingly slow,” said EISA in a statement.
The EISA mission urged Zimbabweans to build on the momentum created by these elections and continue to engage in the dialogue initiated by the SADC in order to improve the conduct of future elections. Â
“A credible and legitimate election is a key building block towards political stability, democratic governance and socio-economic development,” states the EISA mission.
The mission also raised concerns about the independence of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and the accreditation of observers, as well as the shambolic voters’ rolls and the gerrymandering of constituencies by the delimitation commission.
“The huge surplus of ballot papers tends to fuel a climate of suspicion reinforced by lack of transparency in the issuance of about 8000 postal ballots for the police officers who voted ahead of the polling day,” says the statement.
By law ZEC is responsible for the accreditation of observers. However, in practice, according to the mission’s observations, the Ministry of Justice enjoys the sole authority to invite and authorize accreditation of local observers, while the ministry of Foreign affairs has the power to invite international observers.
The Pan African Parliament observer mission, widely expected to be “friendly” to the Mugabe regime, was headed by Marwick Khumalo of Swaziland – where the holding of democratic elections is a problem. But surprisingly Khumalo told the press the mission had noted “irregularities – but these were not serious enough to compromise the results”.
“However the mission is concerned that, two days after the closure of the polls, the overall outcome remains unknown.” – CAJ/Staff reporter
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