Financial Times
By Tony Hawkins in Harare and Tom Burgis in Johannesburg
Published: June 19 2008 20:27
Robert Mugabe’s government on Thursday slashed the number of accredited
Zimbabwean election observers, further heightening fears that the result of
next week’s run-off presidential poll will be manipulated.
During the first round in March, the 8,800 independent monitors from the
Zimbabwe Election Support Network collated information posted outside the
more than 9,000 polling stations – a process which, according to Noel
Kututwa, its chairman, was “critical” in curbing distortions to the final
tally.
On Thursday the network was informed that, of the 23,000 names it submitted
to the Ministry of Justice for accreditation to monitor the run-off on June
27, a mere 500 had been approved.
Mr Kututwa told the Financial Times the reason given was that the presence
of observers “disrupts the smooth flow of voting”.
“The idea is to make it impossible to do what we did [in the first round],”
he said. “It will be very difficult but not impossible.”
The news came as Bernard Membe, Tanzania’s foreign minister, warned “there
is every sign these elections will never be free nor fair”.
Addressing a meeting of the Southern African Development Community’s peace
and security troika, Mr Membe added that he and his two ministerial
colleagues would be writing to their presidents “so that they do something
urgently so we can save Zimbabwe”.
The minister said his assessment was based on evidence from more than 200 of
the 400 SADC election observers already working inside Zimbabwe.
On Tuesday the head of the 40-member Pan-African parliament observer
mission, Marwick Khumalo, warned that “violence is at the top of the agenda
of this electoral process”. He said he had received “many horrendous
stories. This election is a far cry from what we had [in March].”
Leaders of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change on Thursday
reported another four deaths among party supporters. They said this brought
the total number of members who have died in political violence since the
March election to more than 70.
The harassment and arrest of MDC campaigners, the violence that is spreading
from rural to urban areas against people suspected of having voted for the
opposition in March, and the state media’s ban on MDC campaign
advertisements have contributed to fears over next week’s run-off.
David Coltart, MDC senator for Bulawayo, confirmed that although there would
be more regional observers this time they were less visible than in March.
He added that the observers’ role appeared to be “reactive not
preventative”.
While MDC leaders agree that the poll cannot be free or fair, they reject
the idea that Zimbabwe should be “saved” by cancelling the election.
The party’s leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, is predicting a huge turnout. “On the
ground people are exuberant, they are triumphant, they are defiant. They
want to finish him off come June 27,” he said in an interview with the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.