Zimbabwe's MDC challenges Robert Mugabe election victory
10 Aug BBC
Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has filed a legal
challenge to Robert Mugabe's victory in last week's presidential
elections.The electoral petition seeks an order for the result to be
declared null and void and a new election to be called within 60 days.
The MDC's 15 grounds include alleged bribery, abuse of “assisted
voting” and manipulation of the electoral roll.Mr Mugabe, 89, won with
61% of the presidential vote.His Zanu-PF party gained a parliamentary
majority of more than two-thirds, with 160 seats against 49 for the
MDC.The MDC is to file a complaint on the parliamentary results at a
later date, reports the BBC's Brian Hungwe in the capital Harare.
With a two-thirds majority, Zanu-PF is able to amend the
constitution, potentially restoring presidential powers which were
reduced earlier this year.Lawyers for the MDC, which filed its petition
with the country's constitutional court, told the BBC they had “strong
evidence of electoral irregularities”.
They said a shockingly high number of people were unable to vote at
the polls, and that food and other bribes were used to persuade voters
to back Mr Mugabe, our correspondent says.
“The Movement of Democratic Change has filed its election petition...
what we seek is that this election be declared null and void in terms of
section 93 of the constitution of Zimbabwe,” said MDC spokesman Douglas
Mwonzora.
The challenge comes a day after Zimbabwe's electoral commission said
nearly 305,000 voters had been turned away from polling stations on
election day.
The MDC says the true number is about 900,000.Mr Mugabe's margin of
victory was some 940,000 votes.A week after the election, Mr Mugabe
dismissed criticism of the polls and lashed out at Western countries for
their response.
Zimbabwe's nine-member constitutional court has up to 14 days to
respond to the legal challenge.Correspondents say some of the judges are
believed to be Mugabe loyalists.The MDC says it is “aware” of this, and
as a result it will make its appeal public and even produce evidence of
“bribed goods”, the BBC's Mark Lowen reports from Johannesburg.If the
court upholds the results, Mr Mugabe must be sworn in within 48 hours of
the ruling.
“We have done the best that we can under the circumstances, presented
the matter before the court, and it is now up to the court to determine
how strong the case is,” said MDC lawyer Chris Mhike.African and
regional monitors praised the poll for being peaceful but noted some
irregularities. Western observers were not invited to witness the 31
July vote.But a local observer group, the Zimbabwe Election Support
Network (Zesn) and its network of 7,000 observers, has said that about
one million voters - mainly in urban areas - were “systematically
disenfranchised” by being omitted from the voters’ roll or turned away.
The electoral roll has come in for criticism for having duplicate
names and the names of dead Zimbabweans.The MDC says 900,000 people were
turned away from polling stations - mostly in the capital where the
MDC's vote is strong - and another 300,000 people were coerced through
“assisted voting”.MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai rejected the vote as
fraudulent and said his party would boycott government institutions.
The Zanu-PF and the MDC have been in a coalition since 2009, after
the last election sparked widespread violence.
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