The EU takes note of the announcement of the 23 August 2023 Harmonised Elections’ results by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC). On Election Day, Zimbabweans turned out in great numbers, and showed their determination to exercise their voting rights. They need to be granted full transparency and integrity in the electoral process.

Various international election observation missions, in particular the one from the SADC, indicate that elections fell short of many regional and international standards, including key principles of equality, universality, transparency and accountability. In its preliminary statement of 25 August, the EU EOM concluded that curtailed rights and lack of level playing field led to an environment that was not always conducive to voters making a free and informed choice.

The EU deplores the extensive and sustained disinformation and defamation campaign waged against the EU EOM and other international observer organisations, the lack of access to key electoral bodies as well as the unjustified arrests of citizen observers.

The EU restates its firm support to independent citizen election observation as a fundamental exercise of defence of human rights and a tool to add transparency, accountability and integrity to any electoral process. In this regard, the EU also reaffirms its support to fact-based and impartial international election observation.

The EU encourages the ZEC to exercise maximum transparency in the process of results tabulation, including disaggregated election results by polling station and the judiciary in adjudicating all post-electoral complaints and grievances. Ongoing disputes and any remaining concerns about this electoral process should be resolved peacefully through existing legal mechanisms.