Oral Answers to Questions

Baroness Hoey Excerpts

Tuesday 28th March 2017 Commons Chamber

The Secretary of State was asked—

[Kate Hoey (Vauxhall) (Lab)]

1. What assessment he has made of whether Zimbabwe’s next election will be conducted freely and fairly.

[Mr Speaker]

I call the Minister, the right hon. Tobias Ellwood. [Hon. Members: “Hear, hear!”]

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr Tobias Ellwood)]

Thank you, Mr Speaker.

In Zimbabwe, presidential and parliamentary elections are due to take place in 2018, but time is running out to implement the necessary preparations to allow voter registration to be completed. We regularly raise our concerns and the importance of free and fair elections, and this was done most recently on 21 March with the deputy Foreign Minister.

[Kate Hoey]

I congratulate the right hon. Gentleman on his honour.

Are the Government aware that the opposition parties and human rights groups are all saying that the rigging of elections has now commenced in Zimbabwe? Rural chiefs are being forced to take ZANU-PF cards and food is being used as a weapon, and if we do not get the United Nations, the African Union and particularly the South African Development Community to do something about the electoral registration system, we will not have free and fair elections. Can Her Majesty’s Government do even more to impress on those agencies that something must be done to keep the flame of hope alive for the Zimbabwean people?