FODEP goes to Zimbabwe to monitor National Elections

A consortium of 15 non-governmental organisations (NGO) from SADC countries has arrived in Zimbabwe to monitor the July 31 elections.

Zambia’s Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP) is among the NGOs that have joined the election observer mission. The Zambian delegation is being led by executive director Macdonald Chipenzi.

This is according to a media statement which was issued by FODEP executive director Macdonald Chipenzi on behalf the other NGOs from Harare.

The SADC NGO team gave solidarity to civil society organisations in Zimbabwe in their quest to participate and execute their mandates freely.

“This right ought to be exercised without unwarranted restriction. SADC- ESN is also urging all eligible Zimbabwean citizens to turn up enmass and exercise their right to vote on 31st July, 2013. We hope that the Will of the people of Zimbabwe will prevail and be respected so as to facilitate a credible election,” Chipenzi said.

According to Chipenzi, the SADC-ESN is a network of civic organisations who actively participate in electoral issues within the SADC region. The network has a membership of 15 organisations drawn from Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

“As a network, our aim is to build capacity of our members and share regional best practices, through mutual reinforcement and dialogue. We envisage forming a unified lobby and platform for constitutional and electoral reforms with the view to contributing towards strengthening democratic governance and practice in the respective countries of the SADC region,” he said.

According to Chipenzi, the individual SADC-ESN members, and the SADC-ESN as a civil society grouping, draw their mandate to engage in the electoral process through the various national, regional, continental and global Charters that encourage and recognize the role of civil society in democratic governance and national development.

“For this reason, we see ourselves as a critical stakeholder and strategic partner in electoral and governance issues in the SADC region in accordance with our Vision and Mission,” he said.

Zimbabwe goes to the polls n July 31 and so far, the situation leading to the elections has been peaceful.

Observers expect this year’s elections between main rival incumbent 90-year old Robert Mugabe of ZANU-PF and Morgan Tsivangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change to be peaceful contrary to the 2008 polls that were characterized by violence.