Following its presidential and legislative elections during the week, international observers have criticized Zimbabwe’s polls for falling below standards.
The election “fell short of numerous regional and international criteria,” Fabio Massimo Castaldo, leader of the European Union observer mission, said.
Regional and international observers expressed concern about a number of issues that tainted the election, including the canning of opposition rallies, the denial of accreditation to several foreign media, the absence of voters’ names from the voter roll at their polling place, biased state media, and voter intimidation.
“Violence and intimidation resulted ultimately in a climate of fear,” he said.
Amina Mohamed of Kenya, who heads the Commonwealth observation mission, noted that while the voting process was “fully conducted and peaceful” overall, “a number of important difficulties” affected the election’s “credibility” and “transparency.”
The chairman of the SADC delegation, Nevers Mumba, a former vice president of Zambia, stated that “certain aspects of the election fell short of the criteria of the Zimbabwean constitution, the electoral act, and the SADC principals and guidelines guiding democratic elections.”
Meanwhile, Rodney Kiwa, the deputy chairman of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, told AFP on Thursday that the authorities were still confident in their ability to announce the results before the deadline on Tuesday.