Election petitions set for tomorrow

via The Zimbabwean – Election petitions set for tomorrow

The High Court will tomorrow, Wednesday August 14, hear two petitions which seek to compel electoral authorities to produce certain information and material relating to the conduct of the July 31 election.

The matter has been set down before Justice Chinembiri Bhunu at 9 am tomorrow. Bhunu was the same judge to preside over Morgan Tsvangirai’s treason case, when he was accused of plotting to topple President Robert Mugabe through an assassination in the early 2000s.

He is also hearing the case of the 29 Glen View MDC activists up for the murder of policeman Petros Mutedza. In April this year, the matter was postponed indefinitely by Bhunu in his chambers with the consent of both the state and the defence. The defence had failed to file the anticipated application for discharge at the close of the state case.

The case has been going on for more than two years.

The material and information that Tsvangirai seeks tomorrow is critical to the presidential petition.

Tsvangirai wants the court to cancel the July 31 poll. However, the presidential petition has not yet been set down.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Chief Elections Officer, Lovemore Sekeramayi, Registrar General of Voters, Tobaiwa Muded, and Mugabe were cited as the first, second and third respondent in Tsvangirai’s application.

The MDC leader, represented by Denford Halimani of Mbidzo, Muchadehama and Makoni, wants ZEC to avail presidential results per constituency. Among the election materials Tsvangirai wants produced are copies of the voters’ roll used in all polling stations and copies of the voters’ roll used in the special vote conducted on July 14 and 15.

In his founding affidavit, Tsvangirai said he wanted to be provided with a “register of assisted voters at all polling stations in the election; copies of voters’ roll used in postal voting delimited by ward and constituency; copies of the electronic voters roll as at July 31 2013; register of voters whose names did not appear in the voters’ roll but were allowed to vote using voter registration slips; the register of authorised postal and special voters and contents of the closed and sealed ballot boxes and sealed packets delivered to the first respondent”.

Tsvangirai and the MDC have vowed to”pursue every lawful, legitimate and constitutional channel to ensure that the people of Zimbabwe reclaim their stolen victory”.

Official results gave Mugabe 61 percent of the vote compared to Tsvangirai’s 34 percent.