In an exclusive interview on Friday, the top diplomat also expressed optimism that voters had been equipped with sufficient knowledge to make informed decisions on whether or not to accept the new draft constitution during the referendum despite the short period of publicity.
““What matters is that the referendum and elections are peaceful, transparent and credible. A peaceful and credible and credible referendum would be considered as a milestone in the implementation of the Global Political Agreement and as such would trigger a reaction from the side of the EU,” said Dell’Ariccia.
“This goes back to the beginning of the engagement process between the unity government, and the EU was clear right from the start that we would not put conditions on Zimbabwe but would observe what the government would be doing for the implementation of the Global Political Agreement, and then respond in a significant way. Peaceful, transparent and credible elections would trigger a proper reaction,”
he added.
Zimbabweans will today vote in a referendum that is expected to give way to a new constitution that would replace the 1979 Lancaster House charter that has been amended 19 times.
Al the three major political parties—Zanu (PF), MDC-T and MDC-N—that signed the Global Political Agreement in late 2008 to chart a roadmap towards new elections after a disputed presidential poll have already endorsed the draft charter and are encouraging their supporters to vote “yes”.
There has been concern, though, that voters were not given enough time to familiarise with the draft constitution after the GPA principals endorsed it in January this year.
The National Constitutional Assembly challenged the short notice given in February for the referendum but lost recently at the Supreme Court, paving way for the holding of the mini-election.
Ambassador Dell’Ariccia is confident that, despite the short notice, the electorate would be able to make independent choices during the referendum, saying it is impossible for people to be conversant with all the contents of a constitution.
“A constitution is such a complex document and you cannot expect every voter to be perfectly aware of all the contents. There has been an effort on the side of COPAC (the Constitutional Parliamentary
Committee) to inform the people.
“Voters might not have full knowledge of the draft, but they have an idea of the constitution and this happens in all countries of the world. The notice has been short indeed, but what is important is that there has been an agreement (between the main political parties); moreover, the draft has been prepared by constitutional experts,” he said.
The diplomat said the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission could have good reasons in putting a limit on the number of observers at polling stations at any given time as that would minimise the possibility of chaos.
ZEC did not invite EU member states to observe the referendum, he confirmed, but the EU missions accredited to Zimbabwe registered as a “diplomatic watch”, which is in the normal diplomatic mandate to follow events unfolding in the country.
While the Foreign Affairs Minister, Simbarashe Mumbengegwi recently dismissed the possibility of inviting EU member states to observe elections accusing the regional grouping of having imposed sanctions on President Robert Mugabe, Zanu (PF) and companies aligned to them, Dell’Ariccia said they stood ready to participate in poll observation if invited.
The EU in 2002 imposed restrictive measures on Mugabe, his party and lieutenants as well as corporate bodies aligned to them over alleged human rights abuses and ill-governance.
Recently, the bloc removed key restrictees from its sanctions list after acknowledging that there had been marked movement towards the implementation of the GPA.
“We are very pleased that the Finance Minister (Tendai Biti) and the Justice Minister (Patrick Chinamasa) have approached the United Nations asking for support for electoral processes in Zimbabwe.
“We are aware that there are ongoing discussions with the UN and we look forward to an agreement. We are ready to consider requests of assistance in the framework of such an agreement with the UN,” he said.
He added that, as a sovereign nation, Zimbabwe had the right to invite observers to its electoral processes, but added that the EU had the competency and credibility to participate as poll assessors.
“The European Union Election Observation Missions have demonstrated worldwide that we have professional, unbiased and objective observers.
The most important thing is that elections adhere to international standards and give the electorate the confidence that they are credible,” said the diplomat.
Dell’Ariccia acknowledged that the accreditation of observers from EU embassies had “moved smoothly” during this week’s accreditation process and had already deployed some of its observers to polling points ahead of the referendum. He nevertheless insisted on the fact that there is no EU election observation mission to the referendum, but just a diplomatic watch, which is a normal practice of accredited foreign missions.
He also hailed the involvement of SADC in referendum observation, describing the southern African bloc as a reputable body that adhered to international standards and norms relating to elections.
Post published in: News