Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa emphasised the country's right to hold national elections free from Western interference during his speech on the occasion of commissioning the renovated Robert Mugabe International Airport.
"As the people of Zimbabwe, we will not allow the Western countries to dictate to us. We don't dictate to them. This interference from outside is unacceptable. [...] As a sovereign state and a member of the United Nations, we have a sovereign right to run our elections uninterfered. Those countries who want to observe must restrict themselves to [observing] our elections, not interfere in that process. We will not accept it," the president declared.
In May, Elaine French, the Charge d'Affaires at the US Embassy in Harare, was demanded by the Zimbabwean Ministry of Foreign Affairs to terminate publishing posts on social media related to country's elections.
Rofina Chikava, the acting permanent secretary of the Zimbabwean Foreign Affairs Ministry, noted that numerous posts of the US Embassy representative deviated from conventional diplomatic norms as "they border on meddling in internal affairs."
"Despite Zimbabwe's strong commitment towards holding a peaceful, free and fair election, Ambassador Chikava expressed concern over the Mission's election-related social media posts, bordering on activism and meddling in Zimbabwe's internal affairs," the ministerial statement said.
This month, it was also announced that over 64 countries and international organizations received an invitation to become observers at the August elections in Zimbabwe, according to the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"We [...] invited several countries in Europe and the Americas such as Russia, Belarus, the UK, US, as well as many from the Caribbean, the Pacific and Asia," the spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Livit Mugejo said.
According to the authorities, the invitations are keeping in with the democratic tradition of the country to hold fair and transparent elections.