President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said the Southern African Development Community (SADC) is assessing the necessity of having foreign observers in local elections after Malawi successfully held elections with local observers only.
As a way to increase the legitimacy of elections, several African countries have in the past invited international observers including the European Union, Commonwealth and the United Nations.
Addressing guests during a banquet hosted for Malawi president Lazarus Chakwera who was in Zimbabwe on a two-day visit, the President said:
I should congratulate Malawi, for the first time in our region, possibly on the continent, here is a country which has had the general elections without foreign observers, without the United Nations, African Union, Sadc and almost all these civil society organisations observing elections.
They (the elections) were successful, peaceful elections conducted by Malawi, on her own.
This, as I mentioned to you earlier, makes us think whether it is still necessary for Sadc countries to look for supervision from across oceans. It is a question that we are interrogating.
Elections in Malawi were held in June without observers from the United Nations, Sadc and civil society organisations due to the COVID-19 pandemic that restricted international travel.
President Mnangagwa speaks ahead of Zimbabwe’s elections scheduled for 2023.
In the past, some foreign observers discredited Zimbabwean elections citing irregularities such as voter intimidation, vote-buying and manipulation of results.
More: NewsDay
All it’ll take is Chamisa, or another idiot like him, to mouth the odds andguarantee ZPF a win, no matter how many observers there are, or where they come from. It’s also highly unlikely the damage Chamisa has already done can be reversed, or indeed ever will be! Still, as the expression goes “Hope springs eternal”…
If democracy is genuinely your creed/tradition/ideology there’s no need to interrogate foreign observation of the practice.
ED Exposing how undemocratic he is
If Malawi held elections during the peak of the COVID-19 Pandemic how does one justify this kind of talking?
On the contrary they have banned by elections….
What a shame
I cry for you my beloved country
Very ashamed of this government
ED is exposing how undemocratic he is
If Malawi held elections during the peak of the COVID-19 Pandemic how does one justify this kind of talking?
On the contrary they have banned by elections….
What a shame
I cry for you my beloved country
Very ashamed of this government