PAP Interim Statement on Zimbabwe Elections

The Pan African Parliament (PAP) has issued its interim statement on the Zimbabwe elections which concludes that "generally the voting was conducted in a transparent and efficient manner" but continues that, "nonetheless, the post-election phase which forms part of the entire electoral process, including the announcement of results, remains a concern and needs to be closely monitored."

In regards to the pre-election environment, the mission noted that "the [electoral] campaign took place in an environment of peace, order and high levels of tolerance". "The mission however was concerned by the prevalence of negative campaign messages which may have led to some incidents of violence."

Further, the mission noted that "the Commissioner of the Police, Chief of Staff of the Zimbabwe Armed forces as well as the Commissioner of Prisons made statements according to which they would not salute any president elected apart from the incumbent President. (...) These statements violate the professional ethics of the security services and goes against the spirit of a democratic electoral process by its intimidatory nature." Yet, in regards to the conduct of the police on voting day, the mission commended "the police for its zero-tolerance. The police displayed a high degree of professionalism on the voting day inside and outside the polling stations."

"The Mission was satisfied with the legal provisions aimed at ensuring the independence and transparency of the ZEC [Zimbabwe Electoral Commission]". But noted "that, the ZEC had printed a total of 9 million ballot papers for each of the four elections. This number represents about 50% in excess of the total number of the registered voters. (...) When the mission raised this issue with ZEC, the Chairman indicated that it was for "strategic reasons"."

The mission concluded "that the environment for holding an election was conducive" and that "certain allegations made by some stakeholders were proved to be unfounded and baseless" while stressing the need for continued monitoring of the post-election phase given the delays in announcement of the final results.

To read the full statement: ThePAP_ElectionObservationMissiontoZimbabwe_InterimStatement_2008.pdf

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