by Godfrey Marawanyika
Harare - An African Union delegation became the third set of observers Monday to declare Zimbabwe's one-man election undemocratic, increasing pressure on Robert Mugabe as he met his peers at a summit in Egypt.
In a preliminary report on Friday's run-off presidential ballot, boycotted by opposition leader and first round winner Morgan Tsvangirai, the 40-strong mission said it had been blighted by violence, intimidation and media bias.
But amid growing calls for Mugabe's Zanu-PF party and Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) to sit down for talks, the African Union said it had been encouraged by both sides' stated willingness for dialogue.
Continues Below ↓
Although there were widespread reports of people being forced to vote for Mugabe, the AU report said that polling day had passed off peacefully and "in accordance with the electoral laws of Zimbabwe".
However in an uncharacteristically sharp rebuke, it then said that "violence in the run-down to the elections" allied to "the fear of violence (which) deterred popular participation in the electoral process" and the lack of "equitable access to the public media" had rendered the process undemocratic.
"Against the background of the foregoing factors and the context of the AU declaration on the principles governing democratic elections in Africa, it is the considered view of the African Union observer mission that the election process fell short of the accepted AU standards," it concluded.
The report was issued in Harare as Mugabe was in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh for the first day of an AU summit overshadowed by the crisis in Zimbabwe.
A growing number of African governments have urged Mugabe not to try and go it alone but engage with the MDC.
At his inauguration on Sunday, Mugabe put out feelers to the MDC by saying he wanted to hold a dialogue which could "minimise our differences and enhance the area of unity and cooperation".
Continues...
|
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Digg
Delicious
Newsvine
Facebook
muti
Twitter
