Zimbabwe Elections: COMESA deploys observer mission

Zimbabwe Electoral Commission

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) on Friday deployed its short-term observers to Zimbabwe’s Monday polls.

Prior to deployment, the 19 observers underwent an intensive training to equip them with information on the legal frameworks of Zimbabwe as well as election observation skills and tools.

The regional economic grouping joins several other organizations including the Southern African Development Community, African Union, European Union and the Commonwealth that have deployed throughout the country for the crunch polls.

“Our mission will endeavor to observe the various phases of the electoral cycle including campaigns,
voting, vote counting and declaration of election results,” head of the observer mission Ashraf Rashed told newsmen.

The deployment comes after COMESA in May conducted a pre-election assessment during which it interacted with various Zimbabwe electoral stakeholders.

On Monday, the Commonwealth’s team of observers began its assessment of the electoral process in Zimbabwe.

The observers, who are led by former Ghanaian President John Mahama and comprise 23 eminent people from across the Commonwealth, will be in Zimbabwe until Aug. 6.

Mahama said the group’s mandate is to consider factors that affected the credibility of the electoral process and report on whether the vote had been conducted according to the national, regional, and international standards to which Zimbabwe had committed itself.

“We will perform our role with impartiality, independence and transparency,” he pledged.

He said the group would issue a statement on its preliminary findings after the elections before a final report is submitted to the Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland.

“The final report will be considered in the Commonwealth Secretary-General’s assessment of Zimbabwe’s
in being readmitted to the organization,” he said.

“The Commonwealth Observer Group urges citizens, particularly women and youth, to participate in this election, and all stakeholders to play their part in ensuring a peaceful and credible process,” Mahama said.

The commonwealth last observed elections in Zimbabwe in 2002, a year before the southern African country withdrew from the grouping over disputes relating to governance issues.

However, Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who took over from former President Robert Mugabe in November 2017, in May wrote to Scotland, the commonwealth secretary-general, asking her to initiate the re-admission process.

In that letter, he requested the Commonwealth to observe the forthcoming elections, with the final report of the observer group contributing to the secretary-general’s informal assessment of whether Zimbabwe should re-join the organisation.