Ms JULIE BISHOP (11:47 AM) —As a clearer picture is now emerging of the outcome of the parliamentary elections held in Zimbabwe last weekend, I take what I trust is an appropriate opportunity to report on my recent participation in the Commonwealth observer group. The Commonwealth had made public earlier last month its deep concerns about the situation in Zimbabwe, referring to the ongoing violence, loss of life, illegal occupation of property, failure to uphold the rule of law and political intimidation in the run-up to Zimbabwe's parliamentary election. After securing an invitation from the president of Zimbabwe for Commonwealth observers to be present, the Commonwealth formed an advance team of six, comprising representatives from Malawi, Ghana, Trinidad-Tobago, New Zealand, Canada and Australia. I attended from Australia. A much larger team was formed to arrive on 9 June and to stay until next weekend. It included Senator Sandy Macdonald who is part of that group still in Zimbabwe.

The mandate of the observer group was to consider the various factors impinging on the credibility of the electoral process as a whole and to determine in its own judgment whether the conditions existed for a free expression of will by the electors and if the elections reflected the will of the people. This meant that the Commonwealth team had to examine not only how the elections were conducted on the polling and counting days last weekend but also the pre-election period and the climate in which the election was staged. The advance team was able to observe the pre-electoral processes, including stages of the campaigns of candidates from the ruling Zanu PF party and the main opposition party, the MDC, as well as the independent candidates.

I was deployed with Mr Shyley Kondowe, the director of the Malawi Institute of Democratic and Economic Affairs. We travelled to Manicaland, which is to the east of Harare around the town of Mutare near the Mozambique border. Then we moved onto the province around the town of Masvingo to the south of Harare. We met with a wide range of Zimbabweans, from electoral and party officials to representatives from civil society to farmers and farm workers. We met with war veterans; we attended rallies; we met with people from all walks of life. We were not hindered in our tasks in any way. I felt that all Zimbabweans we encountered welcomed the presence of the Commonwealth observers.

On occasions I felt that our presence had a positive, calming influence on the rather tense environment. I recall one day when my Malawian colleague and I sat in on a meeting of several hundred war veterans and supporters who had invaded farms in the Honde Valley and surrounds and a group of commercial farmers. Much of the meeting was conducted in the Shona language, but the atmosphere was highly charged and the exchanges between the two groups were rather agitated. At one point in the meeting, the war veteran leader, a man adorned in bike chains, suddenly broke into English and announced that there were two Commonwealth observers at the back of the hall. He invited us to address the meeting. Mindful of the fact that we were there as observers and not as participants, we tried to resist the invitation but there was insistence. As I was manoeuvring my Malawian colleague to the front, he was nudging me forward. I found myself addressing a rather eclectic group on the strong relationship between Commonwealth nations, the ties between Zimbabwe and Australia and emphasising that our presence as international observers was in order to report on whether the pending election would be in the spirit of the democratic principles held dear by Commonwealth countries. I did not exactly get a standing ovation, but the tension did seem to melt away and we were all invited to morning tea by the local school teacher, the farmers and the war veterans. So it was quite an experience.

Sadly, though, we did find serious shortcomings in the election preparations, particularly in relation to the integrity of the voters roll and the voter registration process that had been undertaken. The Commonwealth observer group will be publishing a report in the next few days. The chairman of that observer group, General Abubakar, issued an interim statement last night in which he indicated that the report will draw attention to the inability of a substantial number of electors to cast their ballots, inconsistencies in polling day procedures and the like.

More important are the concerns as to the nature, the duration and the scale of politically motivated violence and intimidation. I certainly observed examples of this in varying degrees. As a member of the observer group and as a member of our parliament, I also deplore such intimidation and violence. One can only conclude that the incidents of violence did have an impact, as did the intimidation, which prevented open campaigning in some areas, notably by opposition parties. We should be greatly encouraged by the seemingly high voter turnout on the two polling days. The results indicate a significant shift in the development of democracy in Zimbabwe. There are demonstrable signs of hope for a brighter democratic future.