Zim election group welcomes SADC guidelines

The Zimbabwe Elections Support Network (ZESN) has welcomed the adoption of guidelines for holding democratic elections at the Southern African Development Community (SADC) summit in Mauritius this week. ZESN national chairperson Reginald Machaba-Hove told IRIN on Wednesday that although the guidelines - if adhered to by member states - would improve election conditions, there was a lack of clarity on the role of international observer groups. One of the key stipulations of the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections is the presence of an SADC election observer team ahead of, during, and after the ballot. ZESN, a non-partisan network of 38 civic organisations in Zimbabwe, has been lobbying for electoral reform in Zimbabwe. Machaba-Hove said the guidelines appeared not to take into consideration the important role external observer teams could play in ensuring a free and fair poll, and said he had raised these issues with the new chairman of SADC, Mauritian Prime Minister Paul Berenger, during a meeting following the close of the Grande Baie conference. "As ZESN, we are delighted that the summit unanimously agreed on the SADC [election guidelines] - however, our concern so far is that the text refers principally to SADC election observation missions and is somewhat silent on the need for other international observer missions," he commented. "Nevertheless, we welcome the fact that all SADC heads of state and government agreed to the principles and guidelines on elections ... as civil society, we will be following up the question of implementation of the principles and guidelines into domestic legislation and practice," said Machaba-Hove.