Partisan election observers not welcome – President Mnangagwa

Gweru (New Ziana) – President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said the country will not allow partisan election observers to take part in upcoming elections.

The country holds general elections in August to choose new presidential, parliamentary and local government representatives for the next five years.

Ahead of elections, the country invites poll monitors from different countries and organisations to observe the electoral process and give judgment.

But in the past, election observers from the West, which is hostile to Zimbabwe over the country’s land reforms, have always voted down Zimbabwe’s electoral processes, accusing the authorities of manipulation.

This is moreso when Western-backed candidates in the elections lose.

Speaking at a Miners for Economic Development (Miners4ED) convention in Gweru, President Mnangagwa said some observers had already come up with their own results of the August 23 general elections.

“We will not allow those who want to observe but already have their results. To hell with them,” he said.
He said government guaranteed a free, transparent and fair poll.

“Our elections will be democratic and transparent and we want those who want to sincerely observe them to come and observe,” President Mnangagwa said.

He said there were also people who, ahead of the elections, would want to trigger violence to tarnish the electoral process, and create grounds for the opposition to dispute the outcome.

“We are a peaceful, united and democratic country. The most democratic country in the world. No single foreign country can teach us democracy because we fought for it and we can entrench it,” President Mnangagwa.

He urged Miners 4ED members to mobilise support for the ruling ZANU-PF party and vote en masse for it in the forthcoming elections.

“You should vote for the Zanu PF Presidential candidate, the Member of Parliament and councillor,” he said.

New Ziana