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Zimbabwe: ZEC Asked to Clarify Contradictory Sections of the Electoral Act
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The Zimbabwe Guardian (London)
21 March 2008
Posted to the web 24 March 2008
Ezekiel Chiwara
THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has remained mum on the possible way forward in the event of any of the presidential candidates failing to garner the required 51 percent vote, amid concerns that the Electoral Act is giving two directly opposing directions for the declaring of the winner of presidential elections.
The ZEC chairman, George Chiweshe, has responded to correspondence from the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) which was written to him appealing for a resolution to the issue, ahead of the March 29 elections.
ZLHR projects officer Rangu Nyamurindira yesterday confirmed that ZEC had not responded to the correspondence, raising fears that the nation would be forced to go into an election without a clear position.
A section in the main body of the Electoral Act stipulates that if none of the candidates gets more than 50 per cent of the vote, a second round has to be held within 21 days between the two candidates with the most votes.
But another provision in the law's schedule - an addendum to the act which is meant to provide explanatory detail to the main part of the law - says that the candidate who simply gets the most votes is to be declared the winner.
The chances of a run-off have assumed dramatic importance in the March 29 election.
President Robert Mugabe is standing against former national labour head Morgan Tsvangirai of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change party, and former finance minister and ex-ruling party politburo member Simba Makoni and a lesser-known fourth candidate, Langton Towungana.
In the last presidential vote in 2002, President Mugabe got 54 per cent of the total presidential vote, against Tsvangirai's 40 per cent.
Nyamurindira said ZLHR wrote to Chiweshe that "that the discrepancy in the electoral Act on conditions for a runoff might cause confusion" and neededclarification from the ZEC. "Normally what happens is that the content of the act itself takes precedence over the schedule."
Nyamurindira said there were court rulings that served as legal precedents in similar conflicts, where the provision in the main body of the act was ruled to be superior to that in the schedule.
Political commentators have warned that if President Mugabe is faced with a second round, he may order that the simple majority provided for in the schedule be followed, irrespective of legal opinion.
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Nyamurindira said ZLHR was also considering applying to the High Court for a declaration from a judge stating which provision in the Electoral Act should befollowed, should Mugabe fail to get more than 50 per cent of the vote.
The Zimbabwe Guardian tried to get comment from ZEC but was informed that only ZEC chairman had the authority to respond to such issues. He was said to be out of office for the whole of yesterday.
The affair is the latest in a series of challenges to electoral authorities' handling of the election, which will also decide the new 210-seat House of Assembly, 60 out of the 84 seats in the senate and 1,958 local councillors.
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