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Zimbabwe's Elections 2013 - Index of Articles
Justice
Bhunu defers ruling on ballot case
Nomalanga Moyo, SW Radio Africa
November 06, 2013
http://www.swradioafrica.com/2013/11/06/justice-bhunu-defers-ruling-on-ballot-case/
Electoral Court
judge Chinembiri Bhunu has reserved ruling on a case in which MDC-T
official Jameson Timba wants ballot boxes used in the
July 31st poll opened.
Jameson Timba lost the
Mt Pleasant Constituency seat to Zanu-PF’s Jaison Passade,
under highly controversial circumstances, including allegations
of ballot stuffing.
Timba then approached
the Electoral Court for an order to have the electoral material
for Mt Pleasant reopened and reexamined, citing gross irregularities
during the electoral process.
On October 25th Justice
Bhunu granted the order following negotiations between Timba’s
team and lawyers representing the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission
(ZEC).
However, the ballot inspection
which had been scheduled to commence on October 31st failed to take
place, after the ZEC team made a u-turn and denied that they had
consented to the order, forcing Timba to return to the Electoral
Court.
Speaking to SW Radio
Africa after Wednesday’s hearing, Timba said Justice Bhunu
said he will hand down his ruling at a later date.
“However, we are
confident that this will be soon enough as electoral matters are
by their very nature treated as urgent,” he added.
Timba has another court
petition before the courts in which he wants the results of the
Mt Pleasant Constituency nullified on the grounds that the poll
was fraught with gross irregularities and malpractices.
The Mt Pleasant poll
made international headlines after a video was released showing
Zanu-PF-linked police recruits being bussed into the constituency
as part of the party’s rigging scheme.
Two weeks ago Mwonzora
told SW Radio Africa that the MDC-T views the opening of the ballot
boxes as crucial in its bid to prove the illegitimacy of the election.
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