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Zimbabwe shies from scrutiny ahead of polls
Crisis
in Zimbabwe Coalition
April 23, 2013
The Government
of Zimbabwe has reportedly shied away from UN scrutiny ahead of
elections, which could suggest that the authorities are not ready
to conduct a credible electoral process whilst their decision to
shut out the international community could be seen as an attempt
to avoid disastrous exposure.
The government,
which had made a formal request for electoral assistance from the
UN, suddenly made a U-turn when the world bloc’s Need Assessment
Mission (NAM) team which is deployed according UN procedure before
electoral assistance, led by Tadjoudine Ali-Diabaete asked to assess
on their own the pre-electoral environment before money was released
for the important polls.
“As of
now, no agreement has been reached on the modalities. The NAM is
therefore not expected in Zimbabwe at the present moment.
“The UN
has been making every effort to respond to Zimbabwe's request.
“The UN
remains open to engage with the Government of Zimbabwe to determine
if an agreement can be reached on the modalities that will allow
the NAM to be conducted in accordance with the UN General Assembly
resolutions,” said the UN Resident Coordinator Alain Noudehou
on the bloc’s local website on Friday April 19 2013.
Analysts have
intimated that the government’s ostensible fear of prying
eyes has rendered it uncertain about where to get critical funds
as the elections approach given its reluctance to let the UN assessment
team into the country.
According to
a document dated 15 February seen by the Crisis Report which outlines
the NAM’s expectations, the envisaged 5-member team which,
if given the green light, would be in the country for five days
hoped to assess the “political, legal, institutional, technical
and security environment and electoral framework, including voter
registration procedures/processes.”
A recent report
by the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC) titled, “Pre-elections
Detectors: Zanu-PF’s bid to reclaim political hegemony”
revealed that key institutions such as the Registrar General’s
office were being shielded from reform to allow for tampering with
the harmonized election process.
Some commentators
have argued that should the NAM team stumble upon evidence of such
anomalies in the electoral machinery it could open a can of worms
given that the NAM intends to meet with civil society against the
backdrop of intensified raids on Non-Governmental Organisations
since the beginning of 2013.
The NAM expressed
its intention of having meetings with “accredited diplomatic
missions, domestic and international observer groups.”
At the end of
the visit, the NAM, if eventually permitted to carry out its task,
must conclude among other things on the “potential for election
related conflict” and on “the electoral, legal and political
framework highlighting any key concerns”.
According to
some analysts if any danger is seen in terms of these areas there
could be calls for more political reforms ahead of the elections,
which could explain the resistance by the Zimbabwean authorities
to grant the NAM team access into the country.
Visit the Crisis
in Zimbabwe fact
sheet
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