British MP Says "There Is No Sign That ZEC Will Enforce Any Form Of Free And Fair Elections" In 2023

British Parliamentarian, Lord Robert Antony Hayward, says there is no sign that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) will enforce free and fair elections in 2023.

Speaking in the House of Lords Friday, Hayward, who was an observer during Zimbabwe’s 2018 general elections, questioned ZEC’s capacity to provide an uncontested poll, NewZimbabwe.com reported. He said:

My Lords, reference has already been made to the elections in 2018; the report was pretty damning, particularly in relation to the events after the general election in 2018.

Can my noble friend ensure that very strong representations are made to the electoral commission, because it has been lamentable in any action.

It was before the 2018 election, and there is no sign that it will enforce any form of free and fair elections next.

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The opposition has often accused ZEC of conniving with the ruling ZANU PF to manipulate electoral processes and results in favour of the ruling party.

In 2018, then leader of the opposition MDC Alliance, Nelson Chamisa, approached the Constitutional Court claiming that ZEC had rigged the presidential election in favour of his archrival, President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

He lost the court case with the judges led by Chief Justice Luke Malaba ruling that Chamisa had failed to provide evidence to support his claim.

Meanwhile, Lord Zac Goldsmith expressed hope the UK government would exhaust all options in ensuring credible elections in the southern African nation, next year.

Goldsmith, who was responding to Hayward, noted the UK was banking on Mnangagwa’s desire to rejoin the international community of nations, particularly the Commonwealth. Goldsmith said:

My Lords, we will use whatever leverage we have to maximise the chance of free and fair elections.

We know that President Mnangagwa wants more engagement with the UK-that is clear-and in many respects we want him to have that too.

However, deeper re-engagement with the UK will require meaningful political and economic reform and respect for human rights and the rule of law in line with the President’s own stated commitments when he took office.

Since his ascension to power in 2017, Mnangagwa has been pushing a re-engagement agenda after the southern African country was isolated two decades ago over alleged human rights abuses.

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