MDC challenge stalls Mugabe’s inauguration
ROBERT Mugabe’s seventh presidential inauguration will have to be put on hold because the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has challenged his re-election in Zimbabwe’s Constitutional Court.
Outgoing Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s MDC — which filed court papers on Friday afternoon — wants the court to nullify the July 31 elections and order a fresh election within 60 days.
Mugabe, 89, was expected to be sworn in to office tomorrow after winning the presidential vote with 61.09%. Tsvangirai received only 33.9% of the vote.
Speaking to journalists outside the court, MDC spokesman Douglas Mwonzora reiterated its position that the elections were manipulated to favour Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party. This is the crux of their case. “We are dealing with the issue of the voter registration slips, the issue of the assisted voters, the intimidation, the involve- ment of security services in this election . . . also the involvement of traditional chiefs that is not allowed,” said Mwonzora.
The court has 14 days to decide the matter.
The court action comes as the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission this week released statis- tics showing that 304 890 people were turned away from polling stations and another 206 901 were assisted to vote.
For a country with the highest literacy rate in Africa, questions have been asked about why so many voters required help. The opposition’s theory is that rural voters suspected of being MDC supporters were intimidated by traditional chiefs and forced to accept “assistance” — leaving them no choice but to vote for Zanu-PF.
But some observers believe the MDC’s court action is an exercise in futility because of the perceived pro-Mugabe bias of the country’s courts.
Even the leader of the smaller faction of the MDC, Welshman Ncube, said that although he was convinced that the elections were “rigged”, his party would not challenge the outcome.
“It is . . . our well-considered view that taking this matter to court will be akin to going to Robert Mugabe and asking him to reverse his ‘victory’.
“The party has further discounted the option of taking the dispute to the regional and continental organs, principally the Southern African Development Community and the African Union. These institutions have already made known their views about the process and outcome of the election.”