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Election in Zimbabwe
Statement by: The Honourable A. Raynell Andreychuk
Extracted from Debates of the Senate, Canada, 1st Session, 38th Parliament, Volume 142, Number 39
February 23, 2005

Hon. A. Raynell Andreychuk: Honourable senators, I am rising in the chamber today to call attention to the current situation in Zimbabwe. With a parliamentary election scheduled for March 31, it is imperative that countries, including our own, recognize that at the present time Zimbabwe is not heading toward a free and fair election. In the last presidential election of 2002, the international community, including Canada, deemed the election as being not free and not fair.

Since then, Zimbabwe, as a member of the Southern African Development Community, or SADC, has adopted the Protocol on Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections. This protocol stipulates that all elections are to adhere to specific guidelines, including freedom of association, political tolerance, full participation of citizens in the political process, the impartiality of the electoral institutions and the deployment of a SADC observer mission.

Recently, however, the Zimbabwe Election Support Network undertook an extensive evaluation of whether Zimbabwe's electoral legislation meets the SADC guidelines. The conclusion was that the current legislation falls short of the SADC requirements.

On February 21, the Zimbabwean government finally extended an invitation to 32 countries and 13 regional and international bodies to send observers to monitor the upcoming election. Most of the observers will be from African and Caribbean nations as well as organizations such as SADC, the African Union, the Non-Aligned Movement and the United Nations, but not the EU or the U.S. or, in fact, Canada.

It appears, however, that those observers who have been invited will be prohibited from actually monitoring the election in a practical way. Therefore, it is crucial that the Canadian government immediately give the Zimbabwean election top priority. Canada should exercise its good offices in impressing upon the Government of Zimbabwe that a free and fair election is in their interests and, in particular, the interests of the people of Zimbabwe. Given Canada's considerable expertise in election management and monitoring, our commitment against apartheid in the past in South Africa and in the region of Southern Africa, and Canada's stated commitment to Africa, it is important that the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs use every avenue to impress upon Zimbabwe's neighbours, in particular those in the SADC region, that the goals and principles for the elections as set out in the SADC guidelines are the responsibility of the SADC members to enforce in all member states. If the peer evaluation concept as proposed by African leaders is to have any merit, it must be seen to be put in action in this case. I, therefore, call upon the Canadian government to use every avenue at its disposal to ensure that the Zimbabwean government demonstrates a free and fair election.

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