“The EU takes note of the announcement of the results” of the presidential and parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe on 23 August by the Electoral Commission (ZEC), which declared President Emmerson Mnangagwa the winner for a second term (52.6% of the vote) - results contested by the opposition at the end of an electoral process criticised by international observers, including those from the EU (see EUROPE 13213/24).
“Zimbabweans turned out in great numbers, and showed their determination to exercise their voting rights. They need to be granted full transparency and integrity in the electoral process”, stressed the EU High Representative, Josep Borrell, in a statement issued on the evening of Tuesday 29 August on behalf of the EU27.
However, “various international election observation missions, in particular the one from the SADC, indicate that elections fell short of many regional and international standards, including key principles of equality, universality, transparency and accountability”, according to the statement.
In its preliminary statement of 25 August, the EU Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) “concluded that the restricted rights and the absence of a level playing field created an environment that did not always allow voters to make a free and informed choice”.
Moreover, “the EU deplores the extensive and sustained campaign of disinformation and defamation waged against the EU EOM and other international observer organisations, the lack of access to the main electoral bodies and the unjustified arrests of citizen observers”.
The EU encourages the ZEC to demonstrate the utmost transparency in the results tabulation process, including with regard to the election results broken down by polling station, and the judiciary to rule on all post-election complaints and grievances.
See the preliminary statement by the EU EOM: https://aeur.eu/f/8dm (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)