The Pretoria-based forum said excluding the estimated four million Zimbabweans or about a quarter of the countrys population who live in exile from the referendum and election would render both exercises illegitimate.
To deny a significant number of the populace such a fundamental entitlement would render any electoral result questionable in terms of its legitimacy, ZEF director Gabriel Shumba said last week.
(The) Zimbabwe Exiles Forum calls upon the inclusive government, SADC (Southern African Development Community) and the African Union to ensure that Zimbabweans in exile are allowed a say in the referendum that seeks to bring in a new constitution for the country, as well as in the anticipated elections in 2011.
President Robert Mugabes previous government regularly refused to allow exiled Zimbabweans to vote in past elections saying it did not have the resources to facilitate postal ballots.
The government only provided for citizens abroad on official business such as diplomats and their families to vote.
It is unclear whether the cash-strapped unity government will be able to fund postal ballots for the millions of citizens scattered across southern Africa and further beyond in Europe, Australia and America.
The majority of Zimbabwean exiles are believed to support Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and his MDC-T party.
Post published in: Politics