The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), an independent electoral watchdog, has denied claims made by ZANU PF treasurer Patrick Chinamasa that they received US$10 million from Western countries to train election agents for political parties.
Chinamasa had alleged that ZESN received money from various governments such as the United States, the United Kingdom, European Union, France, Japan, and Sweden to train 12,500 election agents for all parties participating in the August 23 polls.
ZESN has denied these claims and claimed that they did not receive any funding from any of the mentioned countries for the purpose of training election agents. Said the electoral watchdog in a statement on Thursday:
Zesn reiterates that it does not and will not finance and or train any political party agents as this is not part of its core business and mandate, neither does Zesn support or endorse any political party or candidate in Zimbabwe.
The network’s mandate is to promote democratic elections in Zimbabwe through domestic oversight on all electoral processes such as voter registration, nomination, pre- and post-electoral environment and polling day processes among others.
The role of electoral watchdogs is to ensure free, fair, and transparent elections by monitoring the entire process from registration to vote counting. They promote voter education and participation, offer training to parties and officials, and provide oversight and accountability.