Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure political impartiality in the support it offers to the Zimbabwean Government to promote free and fair elections in that country in 2018.

The UK has consistently called for free and fair elections in Zimbabwe, in line with the country’s constitution, and has engaged regularly with actors from across the political spectrum to discuss how the international community can best support Zimbabwe’s democratisation process. We have announced a further £5 million of assistance to civil society to help them deliver free and fair elections. We welcome the announcement that an EU Electoral Observation Mission will be deployed to Zimbabwe to monitor the electoral process.