SANF 08 No 15
The head of the main regional electoral observer mission deployed in Zimbabwe has urged the local and foreign media to be objective in their coverage of the 29 March harmonised elections in Zimbabwe.
The Angolan Minister of Youth and Sports, José Marcos Barrica, who is heading the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Electoral Observer Mission (SEOM) called on the media to cover the election in a spirit of transparency, objectivity and beyond reproach.
“We, in the SADC Electoral Observer Mission, recognize the important role that the media plays in society, especially at times like these when the masses of the people of Zimbabwe are geared towards affirming their voices in the coming harmonized elections.
“The significance of your role as impartial gatekeepers and transmission belts of information regarding the elections to the electorate cannot be over-emphasized and deserves commendation and support from all stakeholders.”
“It is not the intention of the SADC Electoral Observer Mission to dictate to you on how you conduct your coverage of the elections. However, we wish to appeal to you, in the spirit of transparency and fairness to ensure that your coverage is objective and above reproach,” Barrica said.
Apart from its role of covering the polls, the media should also appeal to the politicians to behave in an irreproachable manner as to further the national interest, he added.
The SADC observer mission comes into the country through the invitation of the government of Zimbabwe as stated in the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections, “with a mandate to observe the management of the electoral process,” Barrica said, adding that the mission “will be guided by facts and not opinions.
“In this regard, we intend to meet all stakeholders in order to have a clear understanding of the concerns and expectations of all sectors of the Zimbabwean society.
“I am, however, pleased to note that in all our consultations, the peacefulness of the conduct of the electoral process up to this day has been acknowledged and praised.”
The SEOM started deploying observers on 13 March to all provinces of Zimbabwe. So far the mission has about 50 observers divided into 20 teams on the field and expects a further 70 to join the mission over the next few days to take the total of observers to 120 – this is to be the biggest observer mission ever deployed in a SADC member country.
Some of the concerns related to the conduct of the electoral process by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), mainly alleged delays in availing the voters roll and the insufficiency of polling stations, Barrica said, adding that the ZEC had assured the mission that the number of polling stations would be increased.
ZEC had earlier told political stakeholders and civil society organisations that there would be composite polling stations with more than one voting point.
Thus far the assessment of the SEOM team is positive. Barrica said that it was the view of the SEOM that there are conditions conducive to the holding of free and fair elections.
The harmonised elections involve voting with four different ballots for president, senate, house of assembly and local councillors.
ZEC has announced that there are 779 candidates for the 210 seats in the National Assembly, and 197 aspirants for the 60 elected seats in the upper house, the Senate, from 12 political parties and 116 independents.
ZEC has said that it will deploy 107,690 polling officers who will oversee voting in 800,890 polling stations throughout the country.
Zimbabwe’s electorate is estimated at around about 5.9 million registered voters out of a population of around 12 million people.
