Mr Nelson Chamisa and his MDC-Alliance cannot prove to the
Constitutional Court that presidential election results announced by the
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) were wrong as they did not make use
of a provision in the Electoral Act which allows for the recounting of
votes within 48 hours, the Zanu-PF legal team has said.
Mr Chamisa last Friday filed his election petition at the
Constitutional Court challenging President Mnangagwa’s victory in the
July 30 harmonised elections.
Zanu-PF will this morning file opposing papers against the election petition. In an interview with The Herald yesterday, Zanu-PF secretary for
Legal Affairs Cde Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana queried the wisdom of
claiming that the election results were wrong without requesting a
recount as provided for by law.
Monday 13 August 2018
WHY DID CHAMISA NOT ASK FOR A RECOUNT, ASKS ZANU PF
Official results from ZEC indicate that President Mnangagwa
won the elections with 50,8 percent of the votes cast, beating Mr Chamisa who
got 44,3 percent.
In his appeal, Mr Chamisa claims to have won the majority
of votes and that the results announced were manipulated.
He, however, did not demand a recount in any offending polling
station within 48 hours of the final announcement on August 3, as he was
entitled too, in order to prove that the results were wrong.
Section 67 A (1) of the Electoral Act (Chapter 2:13) that
deals with Recounting of Votes states that: “(1) Within forty-eight hours after
a constituency elections officer has declared a candidate to be duly elected in
terms of Section 66 (1), any political party or candidate that contested the
election in the ward or constituency concerned may request the Commission to
conduct a recount of votes in one or more of the polling stations in the ward
or constituency.
“A request for a recount made in terms of subsection (1)
shall:
a) be in writing, signed by an appropriate representative
of the political party or candidate making their request; and
b)state specifically the number of votes believed to have
been miscounted and, if possible, how the miscount may have occurred, and
c) state how the results of the election have been affected
by the alleged miscount.”
Cde Mangwana said if the MDC-Alliance was serious about
having been robbed of an electoral victory, they would have made use of
relevant legal provisions at their disposal.
“They did not make use of that provision. If they felt that
the votes were not properly counted, they had the option to request a recount.
They cannot prove before the court that the results were wrong as they do not
have the correct results,” he said.
Cde Mangwana told ZBC News yesterday that a 12-member legal
team was ready for the responses to litigation by Mr Chamisa, with the opposing
papers bearing testimony of the party’s commitment to safeguard the interest of
the electorate.
“Indeed we shall be filing our opposing papers tomorrow
(today) by 10am and we are ready for whatever they are arguing as we are really
committed to the case,” he said.
In his much-hyped application, Mr Chamisa is challenging
among other things the announcement process. He claims that the results are not
credible simply because ZEC chair Justice Pricillah Chigumba delegated the
announcement of provincial presidential results to fellow commissioners.
“By our law, results of a presidential election must be
announced by the chairperson. In casu, the chairperson delegated, in her
presence, the task to all the commissioners. This was in breach of mandatory
statutory provisions. No explanation exists for this breach,” his lawyers
wrote.
Other irregularities cited by Mr Chamisa’s lawyers include
the announcement of results on a provincial basis instead of per constituency.
“In terms of the law, the results of a presidential election
must be announced on a constituency by constituency basis. The results that are
being challenged were for reasons that have not been stated and which are alien
to law announced on a province by province basis,” the application reads.
As a result of the so-called breaches, Mr Chamisa is asking
the Constitutional Court to declare him the winner of the presidential
elections or alternatively to order a fresh poll.
Cde Mangwana told our sister paper, The Sunday Mail, that
the MDC Alliance missed the deadline to serve its poll petition on
President-elect Emmerson Mnangagwa and also did not serve the papers at the
address the President-elect provided to ZEC for purposes of the election.
Further, the bulk of the other 21 Presidential candidates
cited as respondents in the MDC Alliance’s petition said they had not been
served with any papers, with some slamming Mr Chamisa, for trying to drag them
into his battles.
Zanu-PF wants the Constitutional Court to dismiss the
petition. Herald
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