tawandamusarurwa
Richard Muponde
CITIZENS Coalition for Change (CCC) leader Mr Nelson Chamisa is in denial over his defeat in the 2023 harmonised elections and his claims of rigging are just a publicity stunt, experts have said.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) last Saturday declared President Mnangagwa winner of the election with 52,6 percent of the presidential vote, against Mr Chamisa’s 44 percent.
ZANU PF also garnered a majority of the National Assembly seats. After landing 136 of the 210 constituencies, ZANU PF won 33 of the 60 proportional representation women’s seats and seven of the 10 youth seats. This means the ruling party has 176 seats, while the CCC has 103.
Analysts who spoke to the Zimpapers Elections Desk said Mr Chamisa’s call for fresh elections was just to save face.
Bulawayo-based veteran journalist Mr Methuseli Moyo said there were no prospects of a fresh election, except via a petition with the Constitutional Court, “but this still remains a long shot”.
He said CCC needs to understand that they cannot count on the discredited SADC Electoral Observation Mission (SEOM)’s preliminary report that was compiled by former vice president of Zambia Dr Nevers Mumba.
“An observer is like a guest at a wedding. It is not their wedding. They may not like the food and the entertainment and the decor, but they have no right to take the microphone and discredit the wedding. Some observers did exactly that. Maybe, when they came, they imagined they would make history by witnessing ZANU PF lose elections, but it was not to be,” he said.
Moyo said, to add salt to CCC’s wound, there has been no precedence in SADC, where elections have been held afresh because certain parties were unhappy.
Political analyst and executive director of the Global Economic Consultancy 2020 Group Mr Naboth Paurosi Dzivaguru said last week’s gazetting of election winners authenticates how the country’s laws supersede views of observer missions.
“First and foremost, the SEOM preliminary report isn’t peremptory; it’s just an observation paper that is not binding. Secondly, the country’s laws take precedence over any regional or international laws, practices, customs, regulations and principles. So, recommendations may not be viewed as law but as mere academic notes that may be used in future,” Mr Dzivaguru said.
He said the “flawlessness of elections is not easy to qualify or quantify and it’s, therefore, a polemic area to discuss”.
“It’s like forcing the camel to enter through the eye of a needle. An observer mission should not usurp the country’s election body, but must restrict itself to observing, noting and making recommendations that proffer lasting solutions,” he said.
Efforts to get a comment from CCC national spokesperson Mr Promise Mkwananzi failed to yield results as he was not answering calls nor responding to WhatsApp messages despite indications that he had read the texts.
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Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter