11 August 2023, Gaborone, Botswana: In line with the five-year electoral cycle of the Republic of Zimbabwe on 22 June 2023, the Government invited the Secretariat of Southern African Development Community (SADC) to observe the country’s General Elections scheduled for 23 August 2023. This is in line with Article 3 of the revised SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections (2021), which provides that SADC shall observe all general elections held in its Member States. Following the revised SADC Principles and Guidelines, and upon receipt of such invitation from the Member State, the Chairperson of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation nominates the Head of Mission (HoM) and deploys a SADC Electoral Observation Mission (SEOM), and mandates the SADC Executive Secretary to coordinate the SEOM.
