THE Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) has dismissed Zimbabwe Human Rights Commission (ZHRC) claims that it was collaborating with Team Pachedu to collate and tabulate August election results with a view of announcing them prematurely.
The ZHRC in its election report alleged that Zesn has been
working with Team Pachedu to destabilise peace in the country.
“Zesn would like to categorically state that it does not
and has never worked closely or collaborated with Team Pachedu to collate and
tabulate results,” reads the Zesn statement issued yesterday.
On election day, armed police stormed Zesn offices in
Harare, arresting 40 election monitors and further seized computers and other
related election material that was being used by the poll watchdog to follow
the election.
The arrested comprised a team that was working under Zesn
and the Election Resources Centre (ERC) to monitor and give updates on election
proceedings.
Zesn said Team Pachedu was not part of their team during
their voter tabulation.
“Additionally, addressing a Press conference in Harare on
24 August 2023, Police Spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi
confirmed the arrest of the ERC and ZESN staff and not Team Pachedu, a sure
sign that the latter was never a part of the observation team working on
independently verifying results.”
Zesn maintained that their election observation team was
purely inspired by the need to assess whether the elections followed the laws
of the land in accordance with regional and international standards.
“Zesn strongly believes that election observation is
imperative in the gathering of information regarding an electoral process, to
assess whether the elections are conducted in accordance with the laws of the
country, regional or international principles, standards and best practices.
“Zesn employs three kinds of election observation
methodologies to gather information and provide an impartial and accurate
appraisal of the electoral environment and recommendations for improving
electoral processes.”
President Emmerson Mnangagwa was re-elected for a second
and last time in an election that was criticised by numerous election observer
missions as not credible.
Observer missions said the polls did not meet local,
regional and international standards on the holding of free and fair elections. Newsday
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