Political Reporter

The illegal sanctions imposed on the country by the West is a hindrance to free and fair elections as the electoral field is skewed in favour of the opposition, a political analyst has said.

Writing on his Twitter handle yesterday, political analyst and former Cabinet Minister, Professor Jonathan Moyo said that the regime change machinations of the West makes it impossible for the country to hold free and fair elections.

“For example, regime change machinations of the US, through its various coercive sanctions such as #Zdera (Zimbabwe Democracy Recovery Act) against Zimbabwe, make the holding of free and fair elections in Africa virtually impossible, because they un-level and skew the political field!,” said Prof Moyo.

Professor Moyo added that winning an election using regime change machinery was a treasonous attack on the sovereign will of the Zimbabwean people and on their permanent interests hard won from their heroic anti-colonial independence struggles.

Another political analyst Terrence Chipwanya said that the opposition parties should stop singing the chorus of electoral reforms and instead call for the removal of the illegal sanctions as they were hindering the democratic processes in Zimbabwe.

“The local opposition parties, especially the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), should first call for the removal of sanctions before calling for electoral reforms. As it stands, the ruling ZANU PF is at a disadvantage going to the 2023 elections because its leadership is directly being affected by the illegal sanctions. If the West is in support of free and fair elections in Zimbabwe, they must remove the sanctions as they are making the electoral field uneven,” said Chipwanya.

Meanwhile, Government has implemented most of the Motlanthe Commission recommendations on elections and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has assured the nation that it would deliver credible elections next year.