via SADC questions fairness of Zimbabwe poll – Times LIVE
The fairness of Zimbabwe’s election is questionable, the Southern African Development Community said Monday, stating that the voters’ roll was distributed by the national electoral commission too late for it to be verified.
“If the voters’ roll isn’t made available on time, the fairness of the election is brought into question,” Bernard Membe, Tanzanian foreign affairs minister and head of the SADC election observer mission, told journalists in the capital Harare.
Overall, however, the polls were “free, peaceful and generally credible,” Membe added.
President Robert Mugabe won Zimbabwe’s July 31 elections with 61% of votes, followed by former prime minister Morgan Tsvangirai with 34%.
Tsvangirai refuses to recognise the outcome, saying his Movement for Democratic Change party received the voters’ roll only on the eve of the elections, which made it impossible to audit the register of 6.4 million people.
After the election results were announced, the MDC challenged Mugabe’s victory, but Zimbabwe’s constitutional court dismissed the case.
Summary statement available from The Zimbabwean
COMMENTS
Here they come again the so called brothers just trying to confuse the situation.Why did they not say this from the beginning. mmmmm yea I know there were still waiting for their diamond handshake. If they start to act, they already have what they were promised ,now they are just trying to brainwash the people. Tough lucky guys you will not brainwash people any more.Its a matter of time one day soon, justice will prevail in our country without your help.
Idiots the whole lot of them (AU and SADC).It is mind bulging Why they ever comment or pass judgement on anything as if anyone ever takes them seriously
The Sadc report is notable more for what it does not say than for what it does. Where is there any mention, for instance, of voter slip fraud, assisted voter fraud, the effect of latent fear or cockeyed voter registration patterns? For their own reasons, Sadc are being willfully blind to the evidence. Shame on them!
Overwhelmed by the immensity of responsibilty, out of their depth or just lacking the moral fibre to deliver justice.
The mission was either bribed with diamonds or are lunatics- enjoy your bribes @ the cost of Zimbos & the money is paid in no other than USA $
Its just corruption. What a bunch of corrupt leaders. African leaders the r themselves to blame when the west intervin or sucntion them. Sadc, should be ashamed of themselves, the way they handled zim election. Its now clear that helped mugabe, to still the election. Idiots.
Sadc & AU u are lunatic idiots,we don’t even want your report on the fairness of Zim elections,it truly shows you are nothing but a bunch of thieves…It pleases you to see us Zimbabweans suffering,instead of ending problems you increased them to worst..CORRUPT IDIOTS
The only adjective that can be used positively to describe the elections is “peaceful”.
Otherwise the rest is negative; they were neither “free”, “credible”, nor “fair”, so these idiots must just stop lying to everybody. If they have nothing to say they must just zip it!!
SADC report is all what we were waiting for. Why should we criticise it unless we wanted it to have gone according to our wishes
We need chimurenga for our generation to be freed.
So, if the “FAIRNESS” part of an election is not important, why does SADC have it as a requirement for acceptable elections in the region?