Parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe

April 2, 2005

The Parliamentary elections in Zimbabwe were held on March 31. Japan recognizes that the process of voting and ballot counting was conducted generally in a peaceful manner, while there were a certain number of reports on political violence and intimidation.
During the pre-election period, however, there were incidents that hindered the transparency of the elections. For example, freedom of press and of assembly was not fully respected. Invitation for international election observers was purposefully selective. It is also pointed out that food distribution was undertaken intentionally. Japan expresses its deep concerns about these aspects.
Japan calls for more accelerated progress in the democratization process of Zimbabwe, whereby Japan expects that the Zimbabwean economic difficulties and its relations with the countries concerned will be improved soon.

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