Election observers out in force

11 September 2011 - 12:30 By ARTHUR SIMUCHOBA
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With only nine days to go to the Zambian general elections on September 20, Lusaka has become a hot destination for election observers.

Observers are "pouring" in and the latest group to arrive is the European Union Election Observation Mission to Zambia.

At the mission's first media briefing in Lusaka, the chief observer, Spanish member of the European Parliament, Maria Muniz De Urquiza, confirmed that EU observers had already been deployed across the country and were observing preparations for the elections "very closely". She described that as "a key part of our mission".

She said the EU mission had been attending "rallies and talking to a broad range of stakeholders" and would be reporting on progress as events unfolded.

The EU will have one of the largest observer groups - by the time of the elections, it will have deployed a total of 120 observers.

Twenty-four long-term observers from 23 EU countries and Norway are already deployed. Shortly before the elections, 56 more are expected to reinforce the long-term observers.

Finally, a delegation of members of the European Parliament will observe election day.

The EU observation mission operates out of the Intercontinental Hotel in Lusaka. A core team of eight election experts from seven different countries which analyse political, legal, electoral and media issues established their operation on August 12.

This is the third time that the EU is deploying an observation mission in Zambia, having done so in 2001 and 2006.

Its participation this time was at the invitation of President Rupiah Banda.

The mission mandate is wide: to observe all aspects of the electoral process and to assess the extent to which the elections comply with Zambia's international and regional obligations and commitments as well as with its legal framework.

But the EU group were not the only observers scrambling to get their operation up and running.

On the same day, a 40-member SADC Parliamentary Forum Election Observation team led by Namibian parliamentarian Elifas Dingara arrived on the same mission.

The group comprises members of parliament from Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Mozambique, Malawi and Mauritius.

Sindiso Ngwenya, secretary-general of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa), said his organisation was confident that Zambia would hold peaceful and credi-ble elections in line with its track record.

He spoke as he launched the observer mission at Comesa headquarters in Lusaka.

It will have more than 30 ele-ction observers from Comesa countries, led by Imaculee Nahayo of Burundi.

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