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Zimbabwe: "there's a great desire for change"

09/04/2008 By Publicaciones FRIDE

 

 The EU Observer Missions to Zimbabwe in the 2000 legislative and 2002 presidential elections, which were led by Pierre Schori, contributed to the consolidation of the desire for change that the people of this African country are now living.

Anna Schori

In 2000 Pierre Schori’s mission, together with national observers, covered close to 70 percent of the electoral constituencies and, despite the climate of intimidation, "the number of people who took to the streets to vote was astounding". This was reflected in the results obtained on that occasion, when the opposition managed to win one third of the votes.

In the 2002 presidential elections, however, the regime had learned from the experience of the previous ballot and did everything possible to make the work of the observers difficult. The most notable episode was the expulsion of the Head of Mission.

According to Pierre Schori, the enormous desire for change is the factor that best explains the MDC’s victory, in spite of the continuing atmosphere of intimidation, in the 29 March elections: "There were police in the polling stations, supposedly to maintain order, but that is really intimidatory – and people went to vote in spite of everything".

The role of the African Union and South Africa

"The secret ballot is the power of the people," affirms Pierre Schori. "The role of the international community, in particular the African Union and South Africa, is to demand that the norms of free elections are respected."

The help of neighbouring South Africa and the AU will be fundamental, he says, in order for Zimbabwe to return to a situation of economic stability. Furthermore, this will only take place "if Mugabe accepts the results and there is a peaceful transition", says Mr Schori. "The abuse of power has been the cause of the deteriorating situation."

Keywords

African Union Civil society Democratic control Elections Rule of Law Southern Africa Zimbabwe

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