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Zimbabwe presidential election results to be announced on August 5
13 Jul 2013 at 12:13hrs | Views
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission will announce the results of the country's presidential vote on Aug. 5, Chairwoman Rita Makarau told foreign observers in the capital, Harare, today.
"Come hail, come thunder, we must announce the election result. This is what the law says," Makarau said.
Zimbabweans will vote in presidential and parliamentary elections July 31 after Zimbabwe's Constitutional Court turned down applications to delay the ballot.
The commission took six weeks to announce the results of elections held in 2008. The regional Southern African Development Community ruled those elections unfair and brokered a power-sharing agreement between Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change and Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front. Under that agreement, Mugabe retained the presidency while Tsvangirai became Prime Minister.
More than 1,000 foreign and 1,000 local observers have been accredited to monitor the July 31 election, Makarau said. She didn't say where the observers came from, though Mugabe's Zanu-PF officials have repeatedly said observers from the US and Europe won't be allowed.
The Carter Center, founded by former US President Jimmy Carter, was denied permission to observe the elections July 9, spokeswoman Deborah Hakes said in an e-mailed statement from Atlanta.
Makarau didn't say when results of the parliamentary elections, also to be held July 31, will be announced.
Zimbabwe's 2008 elections were conducted in an atmosphere of violence and intimidation, Amnesty International and human rights organizations such as Amnesty have said.
Tendai Biti, finance minister and secretary general of the MDC said yesterday that the July 31 ballot is illegal. Biti said Zanu-PF is conspiring to rig the election results using a fraudulent voters' roll.
"Come hail, come thunder, we must announce the election result. This is what the law says," Makarau said.
Zimbabweans will vote in presidential and parliamentary elections July 31 after Zimbabwe's Constitutional Court turned down applications to delay the ballot.
The commission took six weeks to announce the results of elections held in 2008. The regional Southern African Development Community ruled those elections unfair and brokered a power-sharing agreement between Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change and Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front. Under that agreement, Mugabe retained the presidency while Tsvangirai became Prime Minister.
More than 1,000 foreign and 1,000 local observers have been accredited to monitor the July 31 election, Makarau said. She didn't say where the observers came from, though Mugabe's Zanu-PF officials have repeatedly said observers from the US and Europe won't be allowed.
The Carter Center, founded by former US President Jimmy Carter, was denied permission to observe the elections July 9, spokeswoman Deborah Hakes said in an e-mailed statement from Atlanta.
Makarau didn't say when results of the parliamentary elections, also to be held July 31, will be announced.
Zimbabwe's 2008 elections were conducted in an atmosphere of violence and intimidation, Amnesty International and human rights organizations such as Amnesty have said.
Tendai Biti, finance minister and secretary general of the MDC said yesterday that the July 31 ballot is illegal. Biti said Zanu-PF is conspiring to rig the election results using a fraudulent voters' roll.
Source - Xinhua
