Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. President Emmerson Mnangagwa has hinted at a strict selection process for international election observers for the upcoming harmonised elections.
Writing in his weekly column in the state-controlled newspaper, The Sunday Mail, Mnangagwa said only those nations who invite Zimbabwe to observe their elections in future will also be invited to do the same. He said:
Going forward, and as a country and Nation which is proudly African and sovereign, we shall be insisting on the principle of reciprocity when it comes to the practice of international election observation.
As a sovereign country, Zimbabwe’s elections and democratic processes will not be determined by foreigners.
The time will soon come when we will not accept that condescending and even racist view of a pecking order when it comes to measuring electoral democracy unfolding in our sovereign countries, and which, in any event, is meant for our people.
A pecking order with white super-dogs who must observe elections of lesser beings, on the one side; and black underdogs whose polls must be observed, passed or failed, on the other.
He said the theory and practice of election observation must be based on equality and reciprocity among nations.
The president added that Zimbabwe’s history of colonisation does not justify any false sense of superiority, and there are no current international rules that legitimize such supremacy.
He added that election observation should be based on equal treatment and mutual respect between nations. Otherwise, it can be harmful to a nation’s sovereignty and cause feelings of hurt and offence.
President Mnangagwa has changed his position regarding the presence of Western observers in the country after allowing them in 2018 when Zimbabwe when the southern African nation held its first elections since Robert Mugabe’s ouster.
This is not the first time Mnangagwa has hinted at a strict selection process for international election observers. that he may not allow international observers. In 2020 after Malawi held its elections, he said Malawi’s success makes him wonder whether it is still necessary for SADC countries to look for supervision from across oceans. He added:
It is a question that we are interrogating.
Zimbabwe is scheduled to hold harmonised elections this year, likely between July 26 and August 26 according to Ziyambi Ziyambi, the minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs.
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