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Head of the India Observer mission Mr Shri Jyoti Kalash

 Muchaneta Chimuka, Harare Bureau
India’s election observer mission has today lauded the peaceful manner in which the Zimbabwean elections were conducted yesterday.

The mission urged Zimbabweans to accept and respect the outcome of the elections.

They, however, urged Zimbabwe to embrace the electronic voting system, describing it as fast, efficient and likely to encourage a higher voter turnout.
INDIA’S election observer mission has expressed satisfaction in the way elections were conducted and will welcome the final result to be announced by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec).

Speaking at a press conference held in Harare yesterday, principal resident commissioner Mr Shri Jyoti Kalash said they came to Zimbabwe a week ago and witnessed peace and harmony in all provinces they visited.

“We are a team of eight election observers and we are proud to say Zimbabwean elections were held in a peaceful manner. We never witnessed or heard reports of violence during elections and we do expect this after the election period,” said Mr Kalash.

“We as the Indian community are going to welcome any results that are going to come out and we urge people to accept and respect whatever outcome. We are also glad that all contesting parties were given ample opportunities to campaign as witnessed by the vast posters that we saw across the country and many people who freely participated in the media,” he said.

He urged Zimbabwe to embrace the electronic voting system saying it’s fast, efficient and will help increase the number of voters as India is witnessing.

“We promise to invest in more business deals with Zimbabwe since it’s a peaceful, democratic country. We are going to preach the gospel about Zimbabwe back home so that more and more investors come. For future reference, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission can embrace the electronic voting system because it is quicker and transparent and everyone who is eligible to vote can cast their vote even from abroad, rather than the ballot system where people have to go to the polling stations and queue. Elections are there to respect the people’s mandate and any Government that comes into power,” he said.

He applauded the good coordination  between Government, the people and the police which led to the elections being held in a peaceful manner.

Mr Kalash said the peaceful election period in Zimbabwe enabled them to learn and exchange ideas with co-observers such as the European Union, Commonwealth, and Community Development Committee (CDC) among others.