Harare (New Ziana)- A European Union (EU) election observer mission, to monitor next month’s polls, said on Wednesday that it had started its work.
The team is headed by Fabio Massimo Castaldo, a member of the European parliament.
In a statement, Castaldo said his team would strictly stick to its mandate as provided for in the country’s electoral laws, which would a departure from past EU election observer missions which interfered in the polling processes.
“Since getting a formal invitation from the government of Zimbabwe, the European Union election observation mission to the 2023 harmonised elections has started work,” he said.
“The deployment of this mission is a strong sign of Zimbabwe and the EU’s commitment to supporting genuine and transparent elections. We are here to achieve common goals with the people and the institutions of Zimbabwe. We will observe and analyse elections and our tested methodology ensures that there won’t be any interference in the process by our side,” he added.
Castaldo said the EU observer team will assess the extent to which the process complies with Zimbabwe and international best practices for democratic elections.
“EU observers will also focus on the level playing field for contesting candidates and parties, the electoral administration, the campaign environment, the conduct of traditional and social media, voting, counting and the tabulation of results. We will remain in the country well beyond election day to observe the post electoral environment,” he said.
On voting day, the EU observer team will have 150 observers from EU member states as well as Canada, Norway and Switzerland.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa recently warned foreign election observers to stick to their mandates, and refrain from interfering in the country’s electoral processes.
“This interference from outside is unacceptable. We have the sovereign right to run our elections. Those countries who want to observe must restrict themselves to the role of observing our elections not to interfere with that process. We will not accept it,” he said.
Often, western election observers get entangled in Zimbabwe’s electoral processes on the side of the opposition, which their countries partly finance.
New Ziana
