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Zimbabwe: Court Dismisses MDC Application
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 Published by the government of Zimbabwe |
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The Herald (Harare)
28 March 2008
Posted to the web 28 March 2008
Harare
The High Court has dismissed with costs an application by the MDC-Tsvangirai faction seeking to compel the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to furnish it with hard and soft copies of the voters' rolls, among many other issues.
Justice Tendayi Uchena, who heard the urgent application in his chambers on Wednesday, handed down the ruling yesterday. Mr George Chikumbirike, who appeared for ZEC, last night said the MDC case was thrown out for lack of merit in respect of issues it claimed it was entitled to. Mr Chikumbirike said the MDC application's major issues were in respect of the provision of the voters' rolls and the number of persons accompanying a candidate to a polling station. As for the voters' rolls, Mr Chikumbirike said the judge found that the opposition party failed to prove it had paid the requisite fees in terms of the regulations.
"The court could not make an order against ZEC on an issue in which the opposition had not paid them (commission) as stipulated in the regulations," he said. Mr Chikumbirike also said ZEC had no problems in adhering to the provisions of the law governing the holding of elections. ZEC, he said, was not obliged in terms of the Electoral Act to provide some of the information which the opposition party was seeking. Through its lawyer Mr Alec Muchadehama, the opposition party was seeking an order compelling ZEC to provide the party with electronic copies of the voters' rolls and comply with the laws governing the holding of elections in the country.
Mr Muchadehama also sought an order allowing each party four agents at each polling station. This would have made a total of four polling agents for a party participating in all the four separate elections to be conducted simultaneously in one day. Mr Muchadehama also said the opposition party was entitled to have at least 10 election agents at the National Command Centre at all times. "We are all so seeking the respondent (ZEC) to provide the applicant (MDC) with the number of applications for postal ballot papers, the identity of the applicants and their qualification to apply for a postal ballot in terms of Section 71 of the Electoral Act," he said.
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Mr Muchadehama said despite being asked to comply with the provisions of the electoral law and supply the MDC with the requested critical information, the commission had failed to do so. "The applicants will suffer irreparable harm should the order sought not be granted, as the information requested and the provisions for which compliance is sought have to do with every election which is to take place this weekend," he said. But in his counter arguments Mr Chikumbirike said in respect of many of the issues raised by the MDC, ZEC had obliged in terms of the law to supply the opposition with such information.
But ZEC could not release the voters' rolls to the MDC because it had not paid for the copies of the voters' rolls as required by the regulations. Mr Chikumbirike further argued that most of the issues raised by the MDC were speculative in nature, saying ZEC had not breached the law. ZEC, he said, would abide by the provisions of the law. Since the Nomination Court closed on February 15, the Electoral Court dealt with applications from various candidates, including political parties.
In respect of all save for one or two cases that have not been disposed of, the contentions by various candidates and political parties were dismissed with costs.
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