Harare (New Ziana)- A total of 44 European Union (EU) short-term observers to Zimbabwe’s 23 August general elections were on Sunday deployed across the country’s ten provinces for the polls.
The group is the third contingent, following the core team and 46 long-term observers, which arrived in the country earlier in July.
THE deployment brings the total number of European Union Observers deployed outside Harare to 90 ahead of the 2023 general elections this Wednesday.
In total, the EU election observer mission will comprise about 150 observers from all 27 member states, as well as Canada, Norway and Switzerland.
Chief observer Fabio Massimo Castaldo told reporters that the team will follow voting, counting, collation of results and the electoral environment in both rural and urban areas.
“The short-term observers will cover all ten provinces in both, urban and rural areas. Together with the other EU election observer mission they will be the eyes and the ears of the mission on Election Day during polling, counting and collation of results. They will also pay attention to the election environment.”
“EU observers will be visiting many polling stations from the opening to the closing of the polls and follow also the collation of results. They will however not interfere in the process. They are here to observe and not to supervise”, Castaldo said.
Prior to their deployment, the short-term observers received a two-day in depth briefing in Harare on the electoral background, voting procedures, the political environment, code of conduct and other topics.
“Although election day is an important element of our observation, the EU election mission is in Zimbabwe to assess all aspects of the elections over the entire duration of the process allowing for an impartial assessment of the entire election process,” he said.
Castaldo dismissed media reports that the EU observer mission was engaging in inappropriate conduct including buying gifts for journalists to influence reportage which discredits the vote.
“Let me say that it’s something that is simply ridiculous. We have a strict methodology. Those are just rumours and there’s nothing objective. We do not comment on rumours,” he said.
New Ziana
