By Takudzwa Changadeya
The United States (US) has raised concerns about the integrity of the recent electoral processes by Zimbabwe Electoral Elommission (ZEC), particularly highlighting the existence of systemic bias against political oppositions.
The reports from respected local civil society groups are alleging that officials from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) exerted pressure on election observers to sign altered polling station result forms, the US noted.
In a statement, Department Spokesperson Mathew Miller urged the Zimbabwean electoral body to take immediate action to address these allegations and enhance confidence and increase transparency.
“The United States notes in particular the systemic bias against political opposition during the pre-election period and reports from respected civil society groups that ZEC officials pressured election observers to sign altered polling station result forms.
“We call on the ZEC to make the disaggregated polling station results publicly available to increase confidence in the result tabulation process,” he said.
The US also condemned Zimbabwe police for arresting 41 workers for poll monitoring groups and seized their equipment to tabulate the results of vote counting.
Those arrested were working with two accredited monitoring organizations, the Zimbabwe Elections Support Network and the Election Resource Center, which had deployed over 7,500 observers across the country.
“We also strongly condemn the intimidation and disruption of lawful election observers throughout the electoral period.
“On August 23 the government arrested staff from respected civil society organizations engaged in lawful election observation in accordance with the Electoral Act.
“These arrests prevented efforts to independently verify ZEC’s announced results, a fundamental component of democratic processes in the region and around the world,” Miller said.
“Furthermore, threats directed against members of the SADC Electoral Observation Mission are dangerous, and we call upon the Government of Zimbabwe to cease these inflammatory and unacceptable attacks,” he added.
Miller said the US is currently communicating with regional leaders to express their concerns and establish renewed engagement with the Zimbabwean government.
“The United States is engaging regional leaders to share our concerns, including what this means for the international community’s nascent efforts to reengage the Zimbabwean government,” he said.
The ruling Zanu-Pf leader Emmerson Mnangagwa secured 2,350,711 votes, accounting for 52.6% of the total 4,468,730 votes cast in the election, according to the chairperson of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) Priscilla Chigumba.
In contrast, the leader of the main opposition CitizensCoalitionforChange (CCC) led by Nelson Chamisa, garnered 1,967,343 votes, representing 44% of the overall vote.
