The British Embassy in Zimbabwe has sought to distance itself from allegations that it is backing President Emmerson Mnangagwa to win in the upcoming 2018 harmonised elections. This comes after Professor Welshman Ncube, the spokesperson for the coalition MDC Alliance spoke out against the British and the Chinese for seemingly backing President Mnangagwa. Said Ncube,
We think it is inappropriate for the British and the Chinese to pick a horse in this election. They should, instead, insist on Zimbabwe abiding by international norms and standards for the conduct of free, fair and credible elections.
Responding to the allegations, Simon Thomas, the Deputy Ambassador at the British Embassy Harare said that his country did not care about who wins the polls. He insisted that his country’s only interest in the election was that it should be conducted under free and fair conductions. Writing on microblogging site Twitter, Thomas said,
This simply isn’t true. Let me be clear: no throwing our weight, no backing horses, 🇬🇧 (United Kingdom) isn’t backing ANYONE in the 🇿🇼 (Zimbabwe) election! We don’t much care WHO wins. We care a lot HOW they win. And we’ll continue to press all sides for a free and fair election.
Source: Pindula
