Pending Court Cases Delay Printing Of Ballot Papers - ZEC

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) says it has been forced to delay the printing of ballot papers because of numerous pending court cases.

Addressing election observers in Harare early this week, ZEC deputy chairperson Rodney Simukai Kiwa said the court cases have put the elections management body under pressure to meet specified timelines to prepare for the 23 August 2023 elections. Kiwa said:

Now on the issue of the ballot paper designing and printing, section 239(G) of the Constitution gives the commission the mandate to design, print and distribute ballot papers among other functions.

The commission has commenced the exercises of designing ballot papers for all contesting National Assembly and local authority wards as well as the presidential ballot.

The drawback, however, as you may appreciate, is the designing of the ballot papers for those constituencies where an appeal has been lodged against the rejection and acceptance of a candidate’s papers.

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We have to live with that until the court process has been done and completed. There is nothing we can do, but it puts a lot of pressure on us in terms of meeting the timelines.

So bear that in mind. Don’t ask us why this has not been done. It is a legal process and ZEC is bound to respect the law. We hope that the legal challenge is concluded as soon as possible.

ZEC is a respondent in several court cases where political parties are querying the 21 June nomination process.

Presidential aspirants Linda Masarira and Elisabeth Valerio are not happy after their nomination papers were rejected for various reasons while Saviour Kasukuwere has approached the Supreme Court contesting the nullification of his candidature by the High Court.

CCC has filed an appeal at the Electoral Court against the nomination court’s decision to accept nomination papers for some candidates who reportedly forged signatures to submit their nomination forms under the opposition party.

ZANU PF has also challenged a decision by ZEC to accept nomination papers for opposition Bulawayo aspiring MPs after the 4 PM deadline on 21 June.

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