The Citizens Coalition for Change isn't challenging Zimbabwe's election results in court, saying the ruling Zanu-PF has captured the judiciary. The party's David Coltart has, however, compiled a lengthy file of electoral abuses.

Zimbabwe's main opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) party, led by Nelson Chamisa, this week abandoned its court challenge to President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his Zanu-PF's official victories in the presidential, legislative and local government elections held on 23 August.

They argued that it would have been a pointless exercise as the country's courts are "captured" by Zanu-PF.

However, David Coltart, a lawyer and CCC senator, has given a sense of what a court challenge might have looked like, in an analysis of the many laws that Mnangagwa, Zanu-PF and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) violated to achieve their official but widely disputed electoral victory.

As Coltart noted, even the Southern African Development Community (SADC), not famous for its robust defence of democracy, concluded in its election observation mission's report that some aspects of the elections "fell short of the requirements of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, the Electoral Act, and the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections (2021)".

The SADC observers compiled a long list of offences. Coltart's list is even longer. Below are some of the alleged violations that Coltart claims marred the elections.

Delimitation

Section 161 of Zimbabwe's Constitution requires all constituencies and wards to contain...