Pretoria – The African Union’s vote monitoring mission has described Zimbabwe’s elections as “credible”.
With the official election results expected to be announced on Monday, several media reports quoted Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, the AU’s election observer, saying that the elections were free and fair.
He said this after Zanu-PF, led by Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, squared up on the ballot against Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
All eyes were on Zimbabwe amid fears that the elections would not be fair due to allegations of vote rigging and unpreparedness for the elections.
Obasanjo said despite several flaws, the elections rand smoothly.
"This election is free ... credible.
"There are incidences that could have been avoided, but all in all we do not believe that these incidents will amount to the results not reflecting the will of the people," he said.
Obasanjo’s statement comes after President Jacob Zuma said in an interview with SABC’s new 24-hour news channel that the Zimbabwean elections were, unlike past ballots, “peaceful”. – SAnews.gov.za
