The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has won all 73
petitions concluded in court following the July 2018 harmonised elections,
while the remaining seven cases are still pending.
The election management body said it had not lost a single
court case, an indication that it ran last year’s polls in terms of the
Constitution and subsidiary laws.
International observers, among them the African Union,
Commonwealth and Sadc, endorsed the elections won by President Mnangagwa and
Zanu-PF as free, fair and credible, and a true reflection of the will of the
people.
ZEC made the observation on court challenges in its July
2018 harmonised election report tabled in Parliament last week by Justice,
Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi.
The petitions included the high-profile case brought by
MDC-Alliance leader Mr Nelson Chamisa, who lost his bid in the Constitutional
Court to have President Mnangagwa’s
victory nullified after the superiour court ruled that the challenge
lacked merit.
The MDC-Alliance has rejected the election results in which
President Mnangagwa beat Mr Chamisa after garnering 50,8 percent against the
coalition leader’s 44,3 percent.
The ruling Zanu-PF won 145 National Assembly seats against
the MDC-Alliance’s 63 seats.
In its report, ZEC said most of the petitions were premised
on “fringe grounds”. “The Commission was subjected to a barrage of litigation
most of which it believed was based on fringe grounds to the electoral
process,” reads the report. “In a total of 80 cases filed in the courts of law
during the electoral process, the Commission was cited as respondent.”
ZEC called for the proper regulation of timelines within
which candidates could withdraw from an election late into the process when
nomination court had long sat.
“Unlike in the Presidential election, the withdrawal of
candidature for the National Assembly and local authority elections was not
regulated as regards the period within which it had to be done,” it said. “Some
candidates withdrew their candidature late into the election period, thereby
affecting the ballot paper design and printing by the Commission, especially
for the postal vote.
“The major challenge for the Commission is that the law
imposes certain obligations such as bringing the withdrawal of a candidate to
the attention of voters and ensuring that the name of the withdrawn candidate
is omitted or deleted from all ballot papers before the election.
“The withdrawal of candidature for National Assembly and
local authority elections should be regulated in terms of time to match the
Presidential election which provides for 21 days before polling. This will ease
the challenges currently faced by the Commission in ballot paper designing and
printing before an election.”
The election management body observed that the high number
of withdrawals by candidates was caused by intra-party conflict which leads to
double registrations.
ZEC implored authorities to supply it with fuel
expeditiously and efficiently to allow for the smooth running of the elections.
“The supply of fuel was erratic during the entire election
period,” it said. “However, the Commission was provided with a budget for the
procurement and maintenance of its own fleet of vehicles for the elections. The
State is encouraged to provide funding to the Commission to enable it to
procure more of its own fleet of vehicles, maintenance of same and fuel
facilities.”
ZEC said it was satisfied with the way it had administered
the July 2018 harmonised elections.
“In spite of the logistical and financial challenges
encountered, the Commission was committed to the discharge of its
constitutional mandate in a transparent and professional manner and to the
satisfaction of all its stakeholders,” it said.
“The Commission consulted and worked in collaboration with
its stakeholders throughout the election period. The Commission is satisfied
that the 2018 harmonised elections were conducted in a manner and under
conditions that allowed voters to freely express their will. ZEC contends that
the results were a true reflection of the Zimbabwean electorate.”
Regarding the media, ZEC said there was general compliance
with the law. Herald
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