SADC Prepares For Zimbabwe, DRC Elections

Speaking after the Southern Africa Development (SADC) Council of Ministers summit in Pretoria on Tuesday evening, Executive Secretary of the regional block Dr Stergomena Lawrence Tax said the regional block was preparing to support the holding of highly anticipated presidential elections in Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Tax said advance observer missions had already visited Harare and Kinshasa and the next phase is the observing of elections. She said SADC was waiting to be invited to DRC and has already been invited to Zimbabwe. Said Tax:

How we support our sister countries is that we observe elections. In both cases we have sent and undertaken our advance missions. Those missions assess the preparedness of the country, and that was done in the DRC and also in Zimbabwe. The next phase will be to observe elections. We have already been invited for Zimbabwe. We are waiting to be invited for the DRC. The invitation will come depending on the electoral calendar. As you are aware, elections in DRC take place on the 23rd of December so we still have time to get the invitation.

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