EU stance on Zim polls commendable

Source: EU stance on Zim polls commendable –Newsday Zimbabwe

THE decision by the European Union (EU) to dispatch over 150 short and long-term election observers to cover Zimbabwe’s August 23 harmonised elections is significant in many ways.

Given the bloc’s strategic importance in determining the southern African country’s bid for readmission to the global family of nations, it goes without saying that it has to be adequately represented before, during, and after the polls to ensure its findings are a true reflection of what’s obtaining on the ground.

Whether the observers’ findings and recommendations will be taken on board by the powers-that-be is a topic for another day since some of the recommendations emanating from the 2018 polls are yet to be implemented.

Secondly, the fact that the EU observer teams have elected to deploy to the country’s hard-to-reach areas, where much of the alleged gerrymandering takes place, will go a long way in reducing chances of disputed elections, despite the glaring irregularities already exposed in the run-up to the polls.

Also, the fact that the EU election observer mission in Zimbabwe will go all the way down to village level and interact with local electoral officials, candidates, and representatives from political parties and civil society as well as the media is reassuring to the voting public that the environment will be safe and their vote will be secure.

We plead with the observer mission to look out for malcontents, quasi-government and Zanu PF vigilante groups terrorising opposition supporters in the countryside, and expose them for what they are.

After all has been said and done, we hope the mission will not gloss over the anomalies they will have observed, but bring them out in the public domain.

The observers should also look the authorities in the eye and remind them to revisit the 2018 post-election recommendations, most of which have remained a sore thumb in the country’s body politic.

Anything short of that frank talk will render this election a ritual devoid of purpose. Given that Zanu PF has already warned the observers to “remain observers and not monitors”, we hope the EU team and other observer missions will not be cowed into endorsing a sham poll.

In 2018, the EU observers made 23 recommendations, including 10 priority ones aimed at aligning the Electoral Act with the country’s Constitution, strengthening the independence of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, and improving information-sharing by the commission throughout the electoral process.

Other recommendations included escalating voter registration as well as the transparency, verifiability, and integrity of the results management process and mitigation of abuse of State resources, among others.

In a follow-up mission to Zimbabwe last year, Elmar Brok, a former member of the EU Parliament and chief observer of the EU election observer mission to the 2018 general elections, said the bulk of the recommendations were ignored. So, what’s the point of inviting observers when we don’t take their recommendations on board?

We believe Zimbabwe has the capacity to shake off the pariah State tag and claim a front seat in the global family of nations if it puts its house in order, and this coming election is a test case.