Kitsepile Nyathi
8 May 2008
Harare — Zimbabwe's two major political parties have filed a total of 105 election petitions challenging the results of parliamentary elections as the main polling agency signalled that the expected runoff will be delayed.
The appeals came as a dispute raged over the outcome of the presidential election, raising further doubts about the credibility of the country's electoral system.
The country's chief judge, Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku, announced that he had appointed 17 judges to the electoral court to handle the cases.
Justice Chidyausiku's appointments bring to 20 the number of judges in the electoral court, which is expected to begin its work soon.
The ruling Zanu PF, which appoints the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), is challenging the results in 53 constituencies while the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by Mr Morgan Tsvangirai is contesting those in 52 constituencies.
Zanu PF lost control of the 210-member parliament for the first time since independence in the March 29 polls to the two MDC factions, which have a combined 109 seats.
Mr Tsvangirai beat President Robert Mugabe in the parallel presidential election but failed to avoid a runoff against the veteran leader, official results released a month after the polls indicated.
Mr Mugabe demanded a recount of votes in 23 constituencies, alleging that electoral officials were prejudiced against him, leading to delays in the release of the results.
The MDC and independent local observers have rejected the results as flawed and the opposition has up to Friday to challenge the outcome in court.
In its petitions, Zanu PF will argue that the opposition bribed election officials while the MDC says the ruling party candidates bribed voters and interfered with the electoral process.
Process flawed
Mr Mugabe believes he and his party lost the elections because the electoral process was flawed, and that the ZEC officials were bribed by the MDC and Western countries.
He also believes he lost because non-governmental organisations and traditional chiefs were part of an MDC campaign to get rid of him.
Mr Mugabe has accused the MDC of getting election funding from Britain, the United States and Australia, which he says are behind an illegal regime change agenda to reverse his land reforms.
In the previous elections, the MDC has successfully challenged results in constituencies won by Zanu PF MPs but the ruling party appealed the rulings and the cases dragged on until the life of parliament ended.
Meanwhile, the ZEC failed to release the dates for the presidential election runoff after its meeting on Monday, and it is becoming increasingly unlikely that it will be held within the stipulated 21 days.
The ZEC's deputy elections officer, Utoile Silaigwana, said the runoff was not discussed at the meeting.
"The date of the election has not yet been set. The public will be advised in due course," Mr Silaigwana said.
Observers say the government and the ZEC do not have the money or logistical capacity for another poll.
Yesterday, an independent, Zimbabwean, election monitoring group expressed doubt over the credibility of the results of the presidential election and accused ZANU-PF party of attacking observers.
The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) is the first observer group to publicly question the results.
The observer group, made up of 38 non-governmental organisations, said a one-month delay in announcing the results of the March 29 poll undermined the impartiality of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).
"ZESN cannot substantiate ZEC figures as the network is not aware of the chain of custody of the ballot materials during the aforementioned period," ZESN said in a statement.
"In addition, the delay to announce the results was a major concern, not only to ZESN but the general public as well."
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