A three-member Ghanaian team that observed the March 2002 Zimbabwean Presidential, Mayoral and Council elections, said on Monday the elections were not transparent and therefore the results were unacceptable.

A statement issued in Accra by the team, comprising Mr David Adenze Kanga, Deputy Director, Administration of the Electoral Commission and leader of the team, Mr George Amoo and Mr John D. Mahama, both members of Parliament, drew its conclusions on a number of factors, including "the visible absence of an independent Electoral Commission in Zimbabwe".

The three, who were mandated by President John Agyekum Kufuor to observe the Zimbabwean polls, have already presented an interim report to the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The statement, which captures highlights of the report, cited state media bias towards the ruling ZANU PF party in a country where private media is virtually absent, a presidential decree, which overthrew the judicial ruling and effected electoral law amendment, as well as the non-practice of onsite counting of ballots as some of the flaws of the electoral process.

"The team observed that the Public Order Act (POA) was frequently used to prevent the largest opposition party, the MDC from freely holding rallies and from campaigning in some provinces branded as no-go areas," it said. "As a result, the ruling ZANU PF held about 50 rallies whilst the MDC held less than 10."

It noted that a deliberate refusal by the Zimbabwean Minister of Justice to accredit sufficient numbers of domestic observers also impacted negatively on the integrity of the process, adding that whereas in the year 2000 parliamentary elections in that country, as many as 12,000 domestic observers were accredited, less than 400 were accredited for the March 2002 elections.

The team observed that voter education was also inadequate, saying that voters were visibly confused as to where to drop their presidential, mayoral and council ballots.

The Ghanaian team, however, pointed-out that though they were able to visit some provinces outside Harare in the run up to the elections, on the election day, "we operated mainly in the capital, but we can say with certainty that the observations represented the true picture of the events leading to, during and immediately after the elections.