One of the opposition candidates participating in the ongoing Zimbabwe presidential elections has lauded Zambia for setting a strong democratic example for the region, which should be cheered for raising expectations of peaceful, free and fair voting.
Speaking in an interview, Dumiso Dabengwa said Zambia’s 2011 general elections had remained a good example of how polls must be conducted on the African continent.
He said state sponsored violence against opponents and the use of state resources must never be used to manipulate voters.
Dabengwa, a former ally of Mugabe’s ruling ZANU-PF, said whoever would win the elections in Zimbabwe must be allowed to take over the reigns of power because refusing to accept defeat would be a source of unrest.
“What we are saying precisely is that when someone loses the election, that person, whoever it is, must step down and allow the other person to take over,” he said.
Numerous international poll observers have said they are concerned over the fairness of the current poll taking place in Zimbabwe, while Dabengwa says he believes that the ruling ZANU-PF party is manipulating the electoral process and abusing their influence over the state-owned media.
“It was unfortunate and really disturbing for freedom fighters to watch SADC painfully trying to resolve an issue of this nature by setting up a national government,” Dabengwa said, referring to the last presidential elections in Zimbabwe which many believe was won by opposition figure Morgan Tsvangirai. ”The unity government became a very wrong precedent in African politics and we don’t think that such a thing must be allowed to happen again. If what happened in 2008 is allowed to happen again, the people of Zimbabwe would not be able to tolerate it and we also think that SADC should not fold their hands and allow the same situation to happen.”
Dabengwa who leads the Zimbabwe African People’s Union (ZAPU), said the electoral violence that characterized Zimbabwe’s 2008 elections was unfortunate.
He said Zambia’s 2011 peaceful elections were a good example to other African countries that voting could take place in the absence of violence.
“As someone who participated in the liberation activities, it is so disheartening to experience the violence that occurred n 2008. That is something we should not allow to happen ever again. Zambia had peaceful elections and Zimbabwe can also do it as we vote,” he said.
Zimbabweans started voting on July 31 and so far, the polls have been incident free, but the process has not gone with challenges. The main opposition MDC-T led by Morgan Tsivangirai had gone to court to order the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to release to voters’ register, which had not been released on the eve of voting day.
On the eve of the elections, 89-year old President Robert Mugabe who has been in power for 33 years declared that he would step down if he lost the elections, although he was confident of scooping the polls.
On the other hand, main challenger Morgan Tsivangirai, who is also confident of winning, said there were numerous electoral malpractices and his party was going to petition the polls in the event of a defeat.
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