Caricom Heads of Government who met in Antigua this week have condemned the recent elections in Zimbabwe as undemocratic and called on the African Union (AU) to enable a negotiated outcome.

In their communiqué issued last night from St John’s, Caricom said that it has followed with great concerns the developments in Harare.

“The first round of the electoral process was tarnished by grave irregularities and inordinate delays in the announcement of the results and allegations of manipulation of these results to force a runoff”, it said. It noted that the second round of the elections was further marred by rampant political violence, intimidation and harassment which led to the withdrawal of the opposition candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai.

“The Caribbean Community condemns this unacceptable trampling of the democratic and electoral processes in Zimbabwe. Held in circumstances which made a free and fair ballot impossible, these elections were totally devoid of legitimacy as they did not reflect the will of the people of Zimbabwe“, the Heads said.

Caricom said while it  acknowledged the complexity of the situation in Zimbabwe, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the AU should use their best efforts to find a negotiated outcome to prevent a further deepening of the social, economic and political crisis for the Zimbabwean people of Zimbabwe and neighbouring states.

The statement made no mention of re-elected President, Robert Mugabe who has been widely condemned internationally.