Four international development agencies, including Tearfund, are calling for action to stop what appears to impartial observers as government-led rigging of Zimbabwe's elections.
The agencies Progressio, Trócaire, Tearfund and FEPA, are concerned about the slow release of results after Saturday's polls.
Noel Kututwa, chairperson of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network, says the speed of result announcements is `fuelling speculation that there could be something going on'.
Marwick Khumalo, head of the Pan-African Parliamentary Observer Mission, has also expressed concern over the delay.
Our mutual partner, Pastor Promise, of the Zimbabwe Christian Alliance, said: `Southern African Development Community (SADC) principles and guidelines governing democratic elections stipulate that counting of votes shall be done at the polling stations.
`This was done and completed yet the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) is withholding the results which are already public knowledge as they were posted outside each polling station.
`With Kenya’s violence so fresh in our minds, it is not acceptable to delay the timely announcement of results as if to provoke the already highly charged electorate. It’s extremely urgent that the ZEC announces all the results immediately.'
Specifically, the agencies are concerned that:
- In some cases, officially announced votes do not appear to be tallying with those registered and displayed at polling stations;
- It has taken more than 30 hours to collate and begin to announce election results, which were posted outside polling stations two days ago;
- The pace of announcement has been painfully slow. By 3pm on Monday 31 March, the electoral commission had announced parliamentary poll results for only 30 out of 210 constituencies. Results for senatorial and presidential polls are also still pending;
- The delay in announcing results and the failure of the electoral commission to satisfactorily explain the delays to the general public is contributing to tensions and could lead to a situation of instability in the country;
- SADC has already issued its statement on the elections. According to article 6.1.12 of the SADC guidelines, observers monitoring elections are obliged to issue a statement on 'conduct AND outcome'. The SADC observer mission only issued a statement on conduct of elections yesterday afternoon and has now declared its work finished.
In light of these serious concerns, the four agencies are urging governments to take the following critical actions:
- African and especially southern African leaders should ensure that the SADC observer mission fulfils its obligations to the people of Zimbabwe by following through on assessing the counting process and declared outcome of the polls;
- There should be a SADC investigation and response to the allegations of fraud made by independent outside and domestic analysts and observers, in particular with respect to why the announcement of results was delayed when polling stations results were already reported;
- African Union and national leaders should be prepared to lead a process of mediation in the event of a disputed outcome;
- The UK, Ireland, EU and member states should encourage African leaders to insist that the SADC principles are rigorously followed, in particular on ensuring that the results announced reflect the will of the people;
- Security forces in Zimbabwe are also urged to respect the verdict of the people.