HARARE, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- Election observers from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) were on Friday deployed across Zimbabwe's 10 provinces ahead of elections scheduled to be held next Wednesday.

Head of the 68-member SADC Election Observer Mission (SEOM), former Vice President of Zambia, Nevers Mumba, presided over the launch of the mission in the capital Harare and its send off to the provinces.

"The SEOM observations will focus on the pre-election, election, and post-election periods, which include political parties' campaigns, the voting day and the process of the counting of the ballot papers," Mumba said at the launch.

He said the SEOM comprises short-term observers covering the period Aug. 10-24 and the long-term observers covering the period Aug. 25-Sept. 1, 2023.

Zimbabweans will go to the polls next Wednesday to choose a president, Members of Parliament and local governments representatives.

Incumbent President Emmerson Mnangagwa, seeking a second five-year term, will contest against 10 other presidential candidates, including main opposition leader Nelson Chamisa of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC).

Mumba said the SEOM started stakeholder engagements upon arrival in Harare last week to appreciate the political, legal, and security situation ahead of the polls.

"SADC urges all registered voters to exercise their civic and political rights by going out to vote on Aug. 23. We encourage all stakeholders to ensure that these elections are conducted in a peaceful, free, fair, transparent and credible manner," Mumba said.

He added that the SEOM envisages an electoral process in Zimbabwe that adheres to democratic values and principles envisioned in the SADC Treaty, the Protocol on Politics, Defense and Security Cooperation and the revised SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections.

Meanwhile, a 14-member Commonwealth election observer group will deploy across Zimbabwe's 10 provinces two days before the polls on Monday, Chairperson Amina Chawahir Mohamed said at a press conference on Friday.

This will be the second successive Commonwealth group to observe Zimbabwe's general elections since it left the grouping of mainly former British colonies in 2003, Mohamed said.

Zimbabwe withdrew from the Commonwealth in 2003 over governance issues, but applied for re-admission in 2018 after Mnangagwa took over power following the resignation of the late, former president Robert Mugabe.

"From Aug.21, we will deploy our observers across various parts of Zimbabwe to observe the voting, counting and the results process, as well as meet with other stakeholders in respective locations," she said.

She said in conducting its duties, the Commonwealth observer group will be guided by the principles of neutrality, impartiality, objectivity and independence.

"Our assessment will be our own, and not that of any member government. We call on all political parties and their supporters to uphold standards for credible, inclusive and transparent elections and we encourage all citizens to play their part by ensuring that a peaceful and credible process takes place next Wednesday," Mohamed said. Enditem

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