Poll observers from 46 countries to monitor Zimbabwe elections

It is the first time in almost two decades that observers from the West will be allowed to monitor Zimbabwe's elections.

Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa has approved election observers from 46 countries.
Reuters

Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa has approved election observers from 46 countries.

Observers from 46 countries and 15 regional and international organisations are set to monitor the upcoming parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe this July, local media reported on Tuesday.

According to the government-owned The Chronicle in Bulawayo the invitations for observers had been extended to member states of the Southern African Development Community, the European Union, China, India, Russia, Turkey and the US among others.

The report quoted Zimbabwe’s Foreign Affairs and International Trade Secretary Joey Bimha as saying that the invites for the election in July would be sent shortly.

It will be the first time in almost two decades that international observers that are not accredited to a diplomatic mission in Harare will be allowed to observe the elections.

Some 5.3 million people have registered to vote in the elections, which were called by President Emerson Mngangagwa following the ousting of Robert Mugabe last November.

Without Mugabe

These elections will be the first held in the country since the end of white minority rule in 1980 that do not feature Mugabe as the incumbent ruler.

One of those invited to be an observer is Andrew Young, the United States’ ambassador to the UN from 1977 and 1979 who was extensively involved in the process to bring an end to the bush war and white minority rule.

While a specific date for the elections has not been announced, according to a press statement from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, the elections need to be held between July 21 and August 21, when the parliament’s current term expires.

Mngangagwa has repeatedly referred to the election being held in July. The last election was held on July 31, 2013, which the ruling ZANU-PF party won, obtaining a two-thirds majority.

However, in 2017 the party was split down the middle with one faction supporting Mugabe’s wife Grace to take over from her husband, while the other faction supported then vice-president Mnangagwa.

The army stepped in placed its support behind Mnangagwa, with Mugabe being ousted last November.

Mugabe fell out with the West, which imposed sanctions on the country's top leaders over what it labelled human rights abuses. 

During his more than three decades rule Zimbabwe went from being the bread basket of Africa to being a basket case with some estimates claiming that as many as 90 percent of the workforce is unemployed.

Millions of Zimbabweans left the country as Mugabe's disastrous policies began to take their toll.

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