By Staff Writer
THE Elections Resource Centre (ERC) and the Zimbabwe Elections Support Network officials have been released on US$200 bail.
In an update, the Elections Resource Centre (ERC) confirmed the development.
“Our 16 staffers together with @ZESN1 members have been released on bail set at US$200 bail by Harare Magistrate Ngoni Nduna. They are due back in court on 28 September 2023 at 0900hrs,” the update said
The election observers were arrested during a raid to bust what they described as an illegal elections results compiling team.
Yesterday the Zimbabwe republic Police (ZRP) claimed to have uncovered a plot by the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) to prematurely announce election results, but the opposition party said this was not true.
The police made the claims to justify the arrest of election observers from the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (Zesn) and the Election Resource Centre (ERC) for conducting an illegal parallel vote tabulation exercise.
Addressing a Press conference in Harare, police spokesperson Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi said the ERC and Zesn exercise was part of a wider CCC strategy to announce election results before the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec).
“We are also aware that this was part of some politicians’ strategy, like what was announced by the CCC leader (Nelson Chamisa) that they were going to announce results by August 24, 2023,” Nyathi said.
