The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) has dismissed the recent Zanu-PF Central Committee report which alleged that the election monitoring organisation seeks to have parallel voter tabulations for the 2023 elections.
The report was released during the recently concluded ruling party’s congress in Harare which set the tone for the 2023 elections. ZanuPF claimed that ZESN and other election monitoring agencies will deploy election observers at all polling stations that will double as Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) agents, who will send results to their established command centres and have consolidated results before ZEC announces.
ZanuPF further accused ZESN of planning to instigate violence should the results be different from what the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission will be having.
In response, ZESN said the allegations are concerning as the organisation seeks to promote the conduct of peaceful
democratic elections in Zimbabwe. In its quest to promote democratic principles, “
The network is apolitical and does not promote any political party’s cause nor endorse any candidate or political party. That is why in its recruitment of observers, ZESN does not recruit from political parties but from the ZESN membership. In addition, ZESN deploys independent observers and not political agents. ZESN observers are also subjected to thorough training,” ZESN said in a statement.
It further reiterated that It has never allowed any political party agents to observe under its flagship.
“ZESN therefore emphatically denies any links with the CCC or working with the CCC to conduct a Parallel Voter Tabulation exercise. Of course, nothing stops political parties from conducting their own tallying or verifications of the official results. ZESN observers have observed political party agents across the political divide conducting their own tallies in polling stations,” ZESN said.
This comes as the election fever is gripping the country with the widespread belief that ZanuPF is fretting over the possibility of a shock loss to the opposition.
