Zimbabwean ruling party promises to accept election results

   HARARE, July 10  -- Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF party will respect the outcome of the July 30 general elections, a senior member has assured the African Union Election Observer Mission.
   Party secretary for administration Obert Mpofu told journalists after meeting the observer mission Monday that it would respect the outcome of the elections as it stood guided by the country's constitution, the state-owned Herald newspaper reported Tuesday.
   Mpofu, who is also home affairs minister in the Zimbabwean government, had met the observer mission delegation led by Francis Kissinger Kakai at the Zanu-PF headquarters in the city.
   He said he had held a fruitful meeting with the AU mission and clarified several issues that they had sought to understand.
   "They raised some issues which they felt should be clarified. These included preparedness, whether the process is above board and acceptable to other players.
   "The other issues raised related to the outcome of the election whether Zanu-PF is prepared to accept the outcome if it did not favor it and we assured them that what we are saying, and what our President is saying is what is going to happen. The President has opened this election to the world and it is the world that is going to observe and see how committed we are to this process," he said.
   Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa has since assured the international community and citizens that the elections will be held in a peaceful environment ensuring that they were free, credible and fair.
   Mpofu said he had also told the mission that Zanu-PF was committed to ensuring that the elections would be held in peace.
   He also said he had told the delegation that his party did not have any problems with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) which he said was an independent body which he said should be left to conduct its work without interference.