by Gift Mashoko
Zimbabweans have been commended by the international observer missions for maintaining peace before and during Zimbabwe’s harmonised Presidential elections.
The international organisations observing this year’s harmonised elections, have given the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) the thumbs up for conducting a successful plebiscite.
AFRIC member Mirjam Katharina Zwingli from Switzerland highlighted that she was impressed by the organisation of the just held harmonised election, with people queuing calmly and confidently, whilst polling officials were thorough and very transparent. She said this election was a symbolic gesture that Zimbabwe has now come to international standards in terms of holding democratic processes.
President Mnangagwa said Zimbabwe was committed to a peaceful elections and when he cast his vote at Sherwood Primary School he was grateful to citizens of Zimbabweans for observing peace and he hoped that the peaceful environment would continue even after the elections.
Principal resident commissioner of India’s observer mission Mr Shri Jyoti Kalash said they came to Zimbabwe a week ago and noticed that there was peace and harmony in all provinces they visited. He also said that he was proud to say Zimbabwean elections were held in a peaceful manner and that they never saw or heard reports of violence during elections and expected the same would prevail even after the election period. He also promised to invest in more business deals with Zimbabwe since it’s a peaceful and democratic country. He further commended the good coordination between Government, the Zimbabwean people and the police leading to peaceful elections.
SADC Observer Mission announced that there has been great improvement towards transparency and electoral building process with many positive changes noted as compared to the 2013 Presidential elections. The SADC, AU and Comesa among other Observer missions said that the campaigning and actual election were conducted peacefully as the environment was peaceful, calm with no disruptions and restrictions when it came to different political parties holding rallies, demonstrations and marches.
Comesa Observer Mission Election highlighted that Zimbabwe is built on a new foundation as it held elections freely, transparently and peacefully. Comesa has urged Zimbabweans to maintain peace and resort to legal ways of resolving disputes with regards to the election results.
Power hungry Nelson Chamisa should be condemned for inciting violence. It should be impressed upon him that Harare and Bulawayo does not constitute the whole of Zimbabwe. He should accept defeat and move on.
