The main opposition party MDC said it will be dragging the
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) to court after the electoral management
body turned down their request to have a recount of ballots in the just-ended
Lupane West East by-election, which was won by Zanu PF.
Party secretary-general Charlton Hwende said he had
instructed party lawyers to take Zec to court after his August 5 request to
have a recount was turned down.
“We have asked our lawyers to approach the courts on this
matter. We will be able to give you further updates once all the matters have
been presented before the courts,” he said.
In his letter to Zec, Hwende said the party believed that
votes were inflated at some polling stations in favour of Zanu PF and wanted a
recount to dispel the rumours.
“The MDC strongly believes that the vote count in all the
polling stations inflated the votes for the supposedly winning candidate and
deflated the votes for Dalumuzi Khumalo (MDC candidate). Consequently, this
inflation created a miscount of the final result, to the prejudice of the MDC
candidate,” Hwende wrote.
Zec, however, turned down the request on August 7 saying
the MDC had failed to meet the strict requirements of section 67 A of the
Electoral Act.
“Please be advised that the commission deliberated on the
matter and resolved to decline your request for non-compliance with the
provisions of section 67A of the Electoral Act,” wrote Zec chairperson Justice
Priscilla Chigumba.
Section 67 A requires that notice be given within 48 hours
of the election result being declared and also demands that the party
requesting the recount should specify the number of votes that it suspects to
have been miscounted.
“67 A (2b) states specifically the number of votes believed
to have been miscounted and if possible, how the miscount may have occurred …
(2C) state how the results of the election have been affected by the alleged
miscount,” part of the section read.
The by-election was held on August 3 and results declared
on August 4. While the request was delivered within time limit, it, however,
failed to state the exact number of votes miscounted.
Mbongeni Dube of Zanu PF won the by-election after
garnering 6 369 votes followed by MDC’s Khumalo who got 4 505 votes. Newsday
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