Harare — The Commonwealth Observer Group in Zimbabwe has issued a strongly critical report of the conduct of the presidential poll and the lead up to voting from 9-11 March.
At a news conference in the capital Harare on Thursday, the head of the 42-member Commonwealth observation mission, the former Nigerian military head of state, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, read out an interim report which concluded that "the conditions in Zimbabwe did not adequately allow for a free expression of will by the electors."
In a catalogue of criticism, the Commonwealth report detailed abuses and violations and "a high level of politically motivated violence and intimidation which preceded the poll." The observers blamed activists from both the governing Zanu-PF and opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). But the report also noted that "most of these were perpetrated by members/supporters of the ruling party against member/supporters of the opposition."
The conclusions of the Commonwealth observer delegation are another damning indictment of the polling process that led to the re-election for a fifth term of President Robert Mugabe on Wednesday. Observers from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Parliamentary Forum, and earlier the Norwegian observer team, also issued reports condemning the election. They said the poll did not match up to regional or international standards and was deeply flawed. The local Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), which had 400 accredited monitors, also concluded that the ballot was anything but free and fair.
The Commonwealth observers' report is likely to carry considerable weight because Mugabe is already under scrutiny by its fellow member-states in the organisation, some of which have called for Zimbabwe's suspension. Britain and Australia, who led the campaign, failed to convince African Commonwealth countries on that, but the organisation decided that South Africa, Australia and Nigeria would have to report back on the election to the secretary-general, Don McKinnon.
Individually, South African and Nigerian government observer missions sent to Zimbabwe have so far declared the presidential poll "legitimate", though not free and fair. Their statements are in direct contrast to the tougher conclusions reached by the Commonwealth observer mission as a whole, and may conflict with whatever other reports on the Zimbabwe presidential poll are delivered to Don McKinnon.
