Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. The Zimbabwean government on Tuesday summoned European Union (EU) ambassadors accredited to Harare for a meeting over a report by the EU Election Observer Mission (EU EOM) on the 23 August Harmonised Elections, reported News24.
Zimbabwe said the observers were partisan in their report.
The meeting was convened by acting Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Amon Murwira.
In a statement, Murwira accused the EU Electoral Observation Mission of deliberately issuing “a broad statement full of misrepresentations and allegations”. He added:
In large part, the preliminary report was not based on the actual observation of the election and misled the world about the conduct of our elections.
During the run-up to the elections, the Zimbabwean government accused the EU EOM of working on a plan to discredit the polls.
The EU EOM is one of the election observer missions that declared the presidential and legislative elections failed to conform to democratic principles. Part of the report says:
Curtailed rights and a lack of a level playing field led to an environment that was not always conducive to voters making a free and informed choice in Zimbabwe’s elections.
The passing of regressive legal provisions and acts of violence and intimidation resulted in a climate of fear.
The 2023 elections were the first elections since the turn of the millennium to be observed by the EU following a fallout with the then President, Robert Mugabe.
Political analysts say the damning report might compromise the re-engagement drive.
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