Election officials sort voting papers for ballot counting after a by-election at a polling station , in Mbizo township, Kwekwe, on March 26, 2022. – Zimbabweans cast ballots on March 26, 2022 in parliamentary and local authority by-elections seen as a yardstick of what is to come in next year’s general polls. The polls, which closed at 7:00 pm, have generated so much interest that President Emmerson Mnangagwa has led various campaign rallies to shore up support for ruling ZANU-PF candidates. (Photo by Zinyange Auntony / AFP) (Photo by ZINYANGE AUNTONY/AFP via Getty Images)
challenging the decision by the Presiding Officer of the Nomination
Court, which on 21 June 2023 declined to register her as a
presidential candidate for general elections scheduled for 23 August
2023.
In her appeal, Valerio, who was represented by Andrew Makoni, Alec
Muchadehama and Jeremiah Bamu of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights,
argued that the Presiding Officer of the Nomination Court had erred in
rejecting her nomination papers when sufficient evidence had been
presented that a deposit of the prescribed nomination fee equivalent
to US$20 000 had been paid through a bank transfer amounting to ZWL138
531 528.
Makoni, Muchadehama and Bamu wanted the Electoral Court to set aside
the decision of the Presiding Officer of the Nomination Court to
reject Valerio’s nomination as a candidate for election to the office
of president and declare her as validly nominated as a candidate and
for the Presiding Officer of the Nomination Court, ZEC Chief Elections
Officer Utoile Silaigwana, ZEC Chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba
and ZEC to take all the necessary steps to ensure that Valerio is
recorded as a candidate for election to the office of the president.
Valerio also listed some presidential nominees including ZANU PF
political party leader Emmerson Mnangagwa, Citizens Coalition for
Change Zimbabwe political party leader Nelson Chamisa, MDC political
party leader Douglas Mwonzora, National Constitutional Assembly
political party leader Professor Lovemore Madhuku and former ZANU PF
political party Political Commissar Saviour Kasukuwere, among the
respondents.
In response, the Presiding Officer of the Nomination Court,
Silaigwana, Justice Chigumba and ZEC, who were represented by Tawanda
Kanengoni, opposed Valerio’s appeal and argued that she be barred from
contesting the presidential elections.
On Wednesday 19 July 2023, Justice Deme allowed Valerio’s appeal after
setting aside the decision of the Presiding Officer of the Nomination
Court to reject her nomination as a candidate for election to the
office of president for the purposes of the presidential election.
The Electoral Court Judge declared Valerio as having been validly
nominated as a candidate for election to the office of president for
the purposes of the presidential election set for 23 August 2023.
Justice Deme ordered the Presiding Officer of the Nomination Court,
Silaigwana, Justice Chigumba and the elections management body to take
all necessary steps to ensure that Valerio is recorded as a candidate
for election to the office of president for the purposes of the
presidential election scheduled for 23 August 2023 and to be reflected
as such on election day.
The Electoral Judge ruled that the alleged failure of Valerio’s
payment to be cleared on the same day when she effected her payment to
ZEC, was a banking challenge as she had religiously instructed her
bank to make the transfer of funds to ZEC’s bank account and therefore
it would be unreasonable to argue otherwise and disqualify her from
contesting the presidential elections.