Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Douglas Mwonzora has says the Constitutional Court application challenging the Delimitation Report produced by Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) and gazetted by President Mnangagwa seeks to lay ground for credible elections contrary to notions that he is avoiding elections.
On March 14 the MDC filed an application seeking the ZEC delimitation report to be declared invalid because did not take into account the final results of the population census among other issues.
In a letter addressed to the general public, the MDC leader said the application seeks to ensure that credible elections are held using the correct report.
“Contrary to what some people rushed to say, this application does not seek to avoid elections. Rather it seeks to make sure that free, fair and credible elections are held using a correct Delimitation Report in Zimbabwe. Some people believe that we should just go to elections with this Delimitation Report. That is most unwise. This would be a call for Zimbabweans to go to unfree, unfair and un-credible elections. It is a fact that the opposition in this country have never been declared winners of an un-free and unfair election before. How some people think it is possible this time is strange to us,” said Mwonzora
He said going into an election with the current report will result in a possible court challenge of the elections.
“Going to elections with this Delimitation Report opens a real possibility that this election may successfully be challenged in court resulting in an order to have the elections redone anyway. That means this election would have been a total waste of national and individual resources. The international isolation of Zimbabwe has been tied to the quality of our elections. The American sanctions, the deadliest we have are contained in ZIDERA.
The MDC president said elections using the report will not pass the credibility test and the country will remain isolated
“One of the preconditions for the removal of these sanctions is that the country must hold free, fair and credible elections that will lead to a smooth transfer of power. The ability of the country to re-join the Commonwealth has now been linked to free, fair and credible elections. Elections using this Delimitation Report can never pass the test of freeness, fairness and credibility. This means that the international isolation of Zimbabwe and associated hardships will continue after the elections against the interests of our people especially the poor and the downtrodden,” he said
Mwonzora said the Constitutional Court application seeks to forestall the high probability of electoral violence and can only be possible if the country holds free, fair and credible elections.
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