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Mashudu Netsianda, Senior Reporter
ZANU-PF is studying the European Union Observer Mission (EU OM) final report on the July 30 harmonised elections after which the party will respond to the findings.

In an interview yesterday, Zanu-PF spokesperson Cde Simon Khaya Moyo said the party will only react to the EU OM report after finishing studying the document.

He however, said the polls were conducted in a free, fair and transparent manner and were a true reflection of the people’s will.

“Our July 2018 harmonised elections were observed by many entities from all over the world including the European Union. We are therefore very happy that we have been looking at various observer mission reports including African Union and Sadc among others. Clearly, all those reports that we have gone through are quite refreshing because they endorsed our elections as having been free, fair, transparent and credible,” he said.

“We are of course still studying the EU OM report and certainly we shall respond to it in due course.”

The EU last week came under fire from political and legal analysts for trying to discredit the widely hailed July 30 harmonised elections in its final report released on Wednesday last week.

Observer missions including the African Union and Sadc endorsed the elections won by Zanu-PF and President Emmerson Mnangagwa as free, fair and credible.

The EU report repeated MDC-Alliance’s unfounded claims.

Zanu-PF secretary for Legal Affairs Cde Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana said the party was happy with the poll outcome as Sadc and the African Union (AU) had endorsed the election.

“It is their opinion, and it remains so. We are measured by Sadc and AU standards, and we met those standards. The AU and Sadc said so. We cannot be measured by standards we know nothing about,” he said

Renowned lawyer and analyst Mr Tendai Toto told our sister paper, The Herald that some of the material findings by the EU Observer Mission on the electoral processes in Zimbabwe conflicted those by other observer missions like the AU, Sadc and Comesa.

“It remains a fact to me and many that the EU, among other things, want to make impositions on how electoral processes must be conducted in African States in order to achieve an outcome that it cordially prefers, the ultimate realisation of the regime change agenda that its member states propagate,” he said.

“This is not only unique to Zimbabwe, but across Africa. In particular, the deposition of the revolutionary political parties from political power, control and influence is the EU’s objective and preference.”

Presenting the EU Election Observer Mission final report, deputy chief observer Mr Mark Stevens acknowledged the campaign was largely peaceful, with freedoms of movement, assembly and expression respected, and both the main presidential election candidates held numerous rallies across the country.

He reiterated the MDC-Alliance claims that the design of the presidential ballot favoured Zanu-PF. — @mashnets