THE Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights and Zimbabwe Election Support Network (Zesn) have called on President Emmerson Mnangagwa to urgently domesticate all regional electoral laws which the country is a signatory to.
BY BLESSED MHLANGA
Mnangagwa recently signed the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Good Governance (The Charter) recently when he attended the African Union extraordinary summit in Rwanda last week.
“The ZLHR and Zesn welcome the decision by President Mnangagwa to sign The Charter and urge the government to quickly move on to ratify, domesticate and implement its provisions ahead of the 2018 elections,” the two organisations said in a joint statement.
Former President Robert Mugabe had kept Zimbabwe’s signature away from the Charter, with the country standing out as one of the few in Africa that had neither signed nor ratified The Charter.
ZLHR and Zesn said Mnangagwa’s stance was a welcome development in the country’s efforts to hold democratic elections.
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“ZLHR and ZESN lauds President Mnangagwa for signing the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Good Governance, which is one of the key instruments that will advance democracy, peace and security in Zimbabwe, the region, and the continent as a whole,” reads the statement.
The two organisations — who have joined hands in pushing for free, fair and credible elections in the country —said the move coming from a history of bloody and disputed elections, should be commended.
“Considering Zimbabwe’s well-documented history of electoral irregularities such as hate language, violence and intimidation of voters amongst others, the decision to sign the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, is a progressive step to take to promote democracy in Zimbabwe,” they said.