Chinamasa speaks on presidential timelines

Farirai Machivenyika Senior Reporter
POLITICAL parties wishing to challenge the validity of the results of the Presidential election won resoundingly by President Mugabe last week have up to this Saturday to lodge their applications with the Constitutional Court. In an interview yesterday, outgoing Justice and Legal Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa said sections 93 and 94 of the new Constitution addressed the issue of Constitutional Court challenges and swearing in of the President.
“Section 93 of the Constitution gives seven days after the announcement of the results as the period within which anyone who wants to challenge the validity of results has to mount their challenge with the Constitutional Court,” he said.

Section 93 (1) of the Constitution reads: “Subject to this section, any aggrieved candidate may challenge the validity of an election of a President or Vice President by lodging a petition or application with the Constitutional Court within seven days after the date of the declaration of the election.”

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission released the results of the Presidential election in which President Mugabe trounced MDC-T’s Morgan Tsvangirai by over a million votes, last Saturday.

Minister Chinamasa said if no application is lodged within the seven days, the President would have to be sworn in on the ninth day from the date of publication of the results.

“However, if there is a challenge lodged with the Constitutional Court , the court has 14 days to determine the case and if it is thrown away then the President would be sworn in within 48 hours from the determination of that challenge,” Minister Chinamasa said.

Section 94 (1) states that: “Persons elected as President and Vice-Presidents assume office when they take, before the Chief Justice or the next most senior judge available, the oaths of President and Vice President respectively in the forms set out in the Third Schedule, which oaths they must take (a) on the ninth day after they are declared or (b) in the event of a challenge to the validity of their election, within 48 hours after the Constitutional Court has declared them to be the winners.”

In the event that the court invalidates the election, fresh polls have to be conducted within 60 days after the determination.
The MDC-T has indicated that it would challenge the outcome of the elections in which President Mugabe garnered a whopping 2 110 434 votes (61,09 percent) while his main rival Mr Tsvangirai managed 1 172 349 votes (33,94 percent).

Professor Welshman Ncube of the MDC, who also took part in the Presidential election, got a mere 92 637 (2,68 percent) while Zapu’s Dumiso Dabengwa and ZDP’s Kisinoti Mukwazhe garnered 25 416 (0,74 percent) and 9 931 (0,29 percent) respectively.

Summary

Announcement of results.

Challenges against the validity of the results, if any, to be launched within seven days of the announcement of the results.

In the event of failure to mount any challenge within seven days, the winning Presidential candidate will be sworn in on the ninth day from the announcement of the results.