Mnangagwa (80) is seeking his second and last term in
office after rising to power following a military coup that toppled the late
Robert Mugabe in 2017.
He won a disputed election the following year when he
narrowly beat the then 40 year-old opposition leader Nelson Chamisa of the
MDC-Alliance.
Chamisa, who is now leading the Citizens Coalition for
Change (CCC), has indicated that his party is not happy with the conditions the
elections are being held under even though he is confident of victory.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) has once again
attracted questions about its credibility after the electoral body raised
lawsuits over the way it has been
handling the process from the delimitation of constituencies to the
recent nomination exercise.
Zec is a respondent in several court challenges where
political parties are querying the whole June 21 nomination process.
Eleven presidential candidates, including Mnangagwa,
managed to submit their nomination papers.
Some presidential aspirants are, however, not happy after
their nomination papers were turned down over various reasons.
United Zimbabwe
Alliance leader Elisabeth Valeiro filed a court challenge after her nomination
papers were rejected.
Valerio is said to have failed to pay the required US$20
000 nomination fee for presidential candidates within the stipulated time
frame.
Zec set the presidential nomination fee at US$20 000 or
$138 million in local currency up from US$1 000 in 2018 while parliamentary
nominees were required to pay US$1 000 up from US$50.
In her court challenge, Valerio argued that she provided
proof of a bank transfer to the presiding officers, but her nomination papers
were still rejected.
Opposition Lead leader Linda Masarira has also filed a
court challenge over her failed bid to run for the presidency.
Masarira is also seeking the nullification of party lists
for provincial councils and challenging the constitutionality of the statutory
instrument (SI) that authorised them.
Before the SI, provincial councils’ nominations were guided
by Section 268 of the constitution.
It stipulated that each province or metropolitan province
must have a council where 10 women were to be elected to those positions under
a proportional system.
SI 114 was gazetted on the eve of the sitting of the
nomination court to allow both men and female candidates to be nominated for
political party lists.
The Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe has also filed an urgent
court application challenging the same SI.
CCC has filed an
appeal at the Electoral Court against the decision of the nomination court to
accept the nomination forms from some candidates who had forged signatures.
In Bulawayo, 10 CCC members who were supposed to be on the
provincial/metropolitan party list for council have filed an urgent court
application accusing Zec of denying them a chance to submit their candidate
nomination papers.
They want the High Court to reverse the subsequent election
of Zanu PF provincial council candidates who stood unopposed.
MDC T had nomination papers for 80 of its aspiring MPs
rejected after they failed to pay the US$1000 required for each candidate.
Zec had rejected payment using bank transfers.
A Zanu PF activist Lovedale Mangwana last week filed papers
seeking an order declaring a decision by Zec to accept presidential aspirant
Saviour Kasukuwere’s nomination papers null and void.
Mangwana says Kasukuwere’s candidature is in violation of
section 91 of the constitution.
He argued that Kasukuwere ceased to be a registered voter
because he had spent a continuous period of 18 months outside his constituency.
Kasukuwere fled the country during the 2017 coup after
soldiers shot at his Harare home.
Zanu PF has also not been left behind after it announced
plans to sue Zec.
The ruling party is seeking nullification of the
candidature of 12 CCC Bulawayo parliamentary candidates whom it alleged filed
nomination papers after the 4 pm deadline.
The ruling party
claimed the nomination was in violation of Section 46(7) and (8) of the
Electoral Act.
Apart from a litany of court cases over the nomination
process, electoral stakeholders have raised various complaints against the
electoral body, questioning its credibility to run elections.
Elections Resource Centres legal and advocacy officer
Takunda Tsunga said Zec could have avoided some of the litigation if it had
managed the electoral process with diligence and adhered to the law.
“The widespread litigation the Commission faces is a
testament to the lack of engagement and inclusiveness in our electoral
process,” Tsunga said.
Before the nomination court sitting, opposition parties and
independent election watchdogs were complaining against Zec for various
electoral malpractices which included refusal to release the voters’ roll.
Data analysts Team Pachedu have been exposing serious
anomalies on the voters' roll, which include the alleged movement of thousands
of voters from their constituencies and wards and the creation of additional
polling stations under unclear circumstances.
“Engagement on all the issues before proclamation could
have helped avoid this unfortunate
scenario where we are heading towards an election without a clear legislative
framework,” Tsunga said.
“Section 46 (10) places the duty on the electoral
commission to ensure that no party submits nomination papers that closely
resemble the abbreviation of any other party.
“Additionally, in the case of double candidates, when
submitting the paper, if the nomination officer has reason to believe that a
candidate is not being sponsored by a political party, the officer must require
the candidate to provide proof that he/she is being sponsored by the party.
“The Commission did not do this and failed to ensure that
they took steps not to confuse the electorate.”
Stephen Chan, a professor of world politics based in the
United Kingdom, said litigation against electoral bodies is common across the
globe and Zimbabwe was no exception.
Chan, however, said Zec did not have enough time to battle
out the legal cases as the election was only two months away.
“Many election bodies, like Zec, have faced huge questions
of probity, transparency and efficiency,” Chan said.
“Having said that, Zec has indeed gotten off to a bad start
with the elections less than two months away.
“There’s not much time to rectify mistakes whether wilful
or genuine mistakes.
“I have always said that the best way of avoiding such
doubt in an electoral body is to bring in a chair with a proven reputation for
probity from another country.
“Professor [Attahiru Muhammadu] Jega, who ran two Nigerian
elections, 2011 and 2015, to international acclaim, would be my own first
choice.”
Constitutional law expert
James Tsabora said Zec has to put in place all the institutional,
administrative and infrastructural enablers for a free, fair and credible
electoral process.
“Zec had five years to prepare for each election and
continues to learn with every by-election,” Tsabora said.
“Zec is a critical body in Zimbabwe’s democratic process
and it has to get used to having all of its decisions or critical processes
challenged in courts.
“It is a pity that it has to dedicate some of its very
precious time to defending litigation.
“It is not a body made up of angels; it will make mistakes
here and there but it must be able to address such mistakes without a lot of
storms.”
Zec is, however, unfazed by the litany of court cases filed
by the political parties.
“It’s the citizens exercising their right,” Zec deputy
chairperson Simukai Rodney Kiwa told The Standard in an interview.
“We can’t stop them. They have a right to challenge
anything. We have lawyers and to say the litigation will take our time is an
uninformed opinion because we have lawyers, we continue with our work.
“Our lawyers will represent us very well.”
Malawi-based political scientist Wondeful Mukhutche said it
was becoming clear that there was no trust in Zec.
“Too much litigation has a bearing on the whole electoral
process,” Mukhutche said.
“The litigation shows a lack of trust in the political
parties.
“Therefore, this translates into an election defined by
mistrust and eventually the result. In the end, it destabilises a country's
democracy.”
University of Zimbabwe political science guru Eldred
Masunungure said the high number of cases challenging the electoral process
pointed to another disputed poll.
Masunungure said Zec had the necessary expertise to run
credible elections which was however being tainted by political interference.
“In southern Africa, Zec attracts the most contestation of
any electoral management body in the region and this is reflective of the toxicity
of Zimbabwe’s politics,” Masunungure said.
“This contestation is magnified in a watershed election
like the upcoming one.
“Left on its own to enjoy its autonomy enshrined in the
constitution as a Chapter 12 institution, I think Zec can deliver on its
mandate.
“The problem is its historical burden of public mistrust,
which it has not been able to shirk since its creation.
“Disputes that are currently unfolding are likely to
continue up to, and beyond 23 August.” Standard
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