The United States believes monitoring Zimbabwe’s upcoming referendum on a new constitution for the country is the best way of ensuring the legitimate outcome.
Victoria Nuland, a US State Department spokesperson, said monitoring the referendum is “the best way to ensure the integrity of the process for the Zimbabwean people who’ve been waiting a very, very long time to have more democracy”.
Nuland was especially referring to reports indicating Zimbabwe’s electoral commission has refused to include Zimbabwe Human Rights Association members as election monitors.
There are no indications of how the referendum monitoring process should be implemented, but HumanIPO reported earlier today that a crowdmap is live in Zimbabwe and will give citizens the opportunity to report cases of intimidation.
The country, after four years of debate, has a draft constitution, which will be presented to the citizens in tomorrow’s planned referendum.
The new draft constitution includes reforms to basic rights. However, it will not prevent President Robert Mugabe from running as head of state for another term, despite the fact he has governed Zimbabwe for 33 years in his capacity as premier and then president and is almost 90 years old.
Nuland said the US supports the referendum, which is setting the stage for elections in Zimbabwe later this year. All three major political parties in Zimbabwe support the referendum.
