We therefore publish the abridged version of the statement from the Botswana Observer Team to the recent controversial Zimbabwean Presidential Run-off on which government largely drew its conclusion.
The main objective of our mission was to ensure that the Zimbabwe Presidential run-off elections were held in accordance with the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections. These principles constitute on essential tool for determining the validity, integrity and credibility of elections. The expectation was that at the end we should be able to make a determination as to whether or not the elections were free and fair. The principles include;
*Full participation of the citizens and political process
*Freedom of association
*Political tolerance
*Equal opportunity for all political parties to access the state media
*Equal opportunity to exercise the right to vote and be voted for
*Independence of the judiciary and the impartiality of the electoral institutional, just to mention but a few
