THE European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) to the 2023 harmonised elections has started its work and will impartially assess the entire electoral process in Zimbabwe.

In a statement this week, EU EOM chief observer Fabio Massimo Castaldo said the observer mission will assess the extent to which the electoral process complies with Zimbabwe's national law and international and regional standards for democratic elections.

"The deployment of this mission is a strong sign of Zimbabwe's and the EU's commitment to supporting genuine and transparent elections. We are here to achieve common goals with the people and the institutions of Zimbabwe.

"We will observe and analyse elections, and our tested methodology ensures that there won't be any interference in the process by our side," Castaldo said.

The EU EOM chief said his mission's mandate was "to conduct an independent, impartial and comprehensive analysis of the entire election process, before, on and after the election day.

"EU observers will focus on the level playing field for contesting candidates and parties, the electoral administration, the campaign environment, the conduct of traditional and social media, voting, counting and the tabulation of results.

"We will remain in the country well beyond election day to observe the post-electoral environment," added Castaldo.

The EU EOM comprises of over 150 observers from EU member states as well as Canada, Norway and Switzerland on a short and long-term basis.

The Zimbabwean government formally invited the EU observer team to Harare recently and warned the mission to only stick to observing the harmonised elections and not "monitor" the plebiscite slated for August 23, 2023.