The Constitutional Court unanimously ruled that the July 31
date for elections proclaimed by President Robert Mugabe last month
stands.

SADC directed Justice Minister
Patrick Chinamasa to seek at least a two week delay to the holding of
the elections at a summit held in Mozambique last month.
This followed a proclamation of the July 31 date by Mugabe after a
Harare man, Jealous Mawarire, won a case compelling Mugabe to proclaim election dates.

After Chinamasa launched his application, Prime Minister Morgan
Tsvangirai and MDC President, Welshman Ncube, launched counter
 applications arguing the former had acted unilaterally.
 The two, together with human rights defender, Nixon Nyikadzino, were
seeking to have Mugabe’s proclamation declared unlawful as it did not
allow time for the implementation of reforms before elections.
MDC-T spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora said it was highly likely that
political influence was behind the Constitutional Court ruling.
“It is clear that the Constitutional Court made a political decision
where they ignored the provisions of the constitution in order
to satisfy a date. The ruling does not assist Zimbabweans at all.
However, the MDC will be going ahead with preparations for the
elections,” said Mwonzora.
Mwonzora said the ruling by the Constitutional Court had created an
uneven playing field by closing doors for the execution of democratic
reforms to pave way for free and fair polls.
Post published in: News