Staff Reporter
ZANU-PF national spokesperson Chris Mutsvangwa indicated that democracy can be measured by the ability to allow foreign election observers to monitor the electoral process.
In a statement today, ZANU PF national spokesperson Chris Mutsvangwa said that the nation has a number of foreign election observers and that all media houses are permitted to cover the imminent Harmonised General Elections slated for next week.
"ZANU PF is prepared for the elections. We have election observers who will be deployed at most polling stations; some of them are foreign. That’s how you can measure our democracy. All media houses are allowed to cover it," said Mutsvangwa.
Mutsvangwa highlighted that the nation acknowledges any suggestions on how to improve the electoral process by observers, but he alluded to the fact that the nation would not allow the same to challenge the nation.
"We are happy to learn how we can improve our electoral processes from the assessment of the observers, but we cannot allow them to undermine us because we know our sovereign status as an organised people. We are happy with the European Union's (EU) position to observe without having clouded judgement," he said.
The spokesperson stated that the nation welcomes the Americans decision to agree to be neutral during the electoral process.
"We are happy that the Americans have agreed to be neutral as they observe these elections; it shows that they respect Zimbabwean democracy. They have agreed not to undermine the state processes of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) because it is a professional board that executes its mandate accordingly.
"The opposition always has issues with ZEC, but it's wrong. ZEC is only carrying out its duties as directed by the constitution. ZEC is in the digital era. Everything is now electronic, so issues about registration can be viewed online. The numbers in the registry are known, so they should tally with the voters," he said.
Meanwhile, Mutsvangwa attacked the opposition party Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) for having made themselves redundant by failing to select their candidates in a democratic manner. He pointed out that the CCC is a disempowered party that was not ready for the August 23 presidential election.
