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                   SADC Leader Hails 'Peaceful' Zimbabwe Vote

   by Peter Clottey

   The executive Secretary of the Southern African Development Community
   (SADC) says Zimbabwean voters deserve praise following a peaceful
   general election Wednesday.
   "People were sending a clear message that that they are here basically
   to perform their duty as citizens of Zimbabwe. It was very calm and
   that is why I am saying that Zimbabweans deserve a huge commendation in
   that regard," said SADC executive secretary Tomaz Augusto Salomão.
   Salomão says Zimbabweans demonstrated that they are capable of
   organizing a peaceful vote despite predictions among skeptics that
   there could be violence during the vote.
   "It was peaceful, calm smooth and amazing," said Salomão. "We need to
   commend Zimbabweans because people came in huge numbers to the polling
   stations to vote."
   He says the SADC poll observer mission's preliminary report about the
   vote would be released on Friday. Salomão says it was too early for
   the regional bloc to give its full assessment of the vote so soon after
   it took place, but adds that the balloting went well despite the long
   lines.
   Zimbabwe's electoral body has until next Monday to release the results
   of the vote.
   SADC deployed six hundred observers throughout Zimbabwe to monitor the
   elections. Salomão says the regional bloc is compiling reports of its
   poll monitors.
   "We have observers on the ground and we are receiving their reports
   while the process is still on," said Salomão. "We have the biggest
   operation ever observing elections. Our observers were deployed in all
   regions and provinces of Zimbabwe.
   Some political analysts had worried about a possible repeat of the 2008
   violence, which led to President Robert Mugabe and his main rival
   Morgan Tsvangirai to sharing power in a coalition government. Salomão
   says there were no reports of violence during the voting process this
   time.
   "I think you will hear from reports from different observers that
   violence is something that belongs to the past [and that] in 2013 there
   were no incidents of violence," said Salomão.

   The United States expressed concern about partisan behavior by state
   security institutions, as well as technical and logistical issues that
   could keep Wednesday's vote from being transparent and credible.
   About 7,000 domestic observers and several hundred more from various
   African countries monitored the vote. But, Western observers were
   barred from monitoring the election.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/article/1714150.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/article/1714150.html