REPRESENTATIVES of two international observer groups yesterday
presented their pre-election assessment report to the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission (Zec), where they highlighted the need to urgently implement
outstanding electoral reforms demanded by the opposition to guarantee
credibility of next month’s general elections.
The delegation comprising of officials from the International
Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI)
consists of former US congressman David Drier and former chairperson of
the South African election commission, Brigalia Bam.
In its key recommendations submitted to Zec chairperson Priscilla
Chigumba, the two observer groups demanded that the military should
publicly commit to recognise a winning presidential candidate, despite
their political affiliation.
They also called on Zec to allow all political parties to observe the procurement, printing and storage of ballots.
“We, this week have had a wide range of meetings and we hope that
in the next 52 days we will be able to see successful resolutions to
the issues that we raised in our report that we have given you,” ex-US
congressman Drier told journalists in the capital yesterday.
Catherine Noone, deputy leader of the Irish Senate, added:“The
reality is that there are certain things that can be improved in this
period, so there is some work to be done in this period and I think that
there is some atmosphere of hope that it can be achieved in the
country, so it remains to be seen.”
This comes on the backdrop of a demonstration earlier this week,
organised by the opposition MDC Alliance in which it was pressing for
key issues to be addressed before the elections, among them being
demands to Zec to promptly distribute an analysable final voter’s roll. Newsday
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