Irish unease at Zimbabwe elections

Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern tonight expressed serious concern about the high number of voters turned away from the polls in Zimbabwe.

President Robert Mugabe swept to victory in the country’s parliamentary elections, which saw an average turnout of around 50%.

Mr Ahern said around 10% of would-be voters had been turned around because their names did not appear on the voter register.

“There is also disturbing evidence regarding the management of the postal vote and how this appears to have been concentrated in certain constituencies,” he said.

The Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has said "disgusting, massive fraud" had been committed in yesterday’s polls.

Previous elections in 2000 and 2002 were marred by serious voting irregularities and violence principally directly against supporters of Mr Tsvangirai’s party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Zimbabwe did not invite the European Union or any of its members to send external election observers but the Irish Ambassador to South Africa and Zimbabwe was able to enter the country to observe the voting.

Mr Ahern said the Department of Foreign Affairs would conduct a detailed examination of the election based on the ambassador’s report and that of the Southern Africa Development Community.

“Zimbabwe has fallen well short of implementing the kind of reforms in the area of democracy and human rights which the European Union and others in the international community have long called for,” he said.

“The EU very much wants to enjoy normal relationships with Zimbabwe, but the extent to which the Government of Zimbabwe is prepared to respect the rights of the people of Zimbabwe will remain the key determinant of our future relations.”