Hopewell Chin’ono has stated that the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) lost 25 seats, and not just 12, when High Court judge Justice Bongani Ndlovu barred its 12 MP candidates from contesting the 2023 elections for filing their nomination papers after the regulated time of 4 PM on 21 June.
Chin’ono explained that the party also lost senatorial seats, women’s and youths’ seats, which were derived from the 12 seats. Therefore, the real number of lost seats in Bulawayo is 25. He said CCC might still get one senatorial seat through the double candidates who are in three constituencies in Bulawayo, but only if the people in those constituencies come out and vote in large numbers. In a Twitter post seen by Pindula News, Chin’ono said:
The tragedy of Bulawayo has not been properly contextualised!
CCC lost 12 seats in Bulawayo on paper, but in real terms they lost 25 seats.
6 senatorial seats, 6 Women’s quarter seats and 1 youth seat on top of the 12.
The Senatorial, Women’s and Youth seats are derived from the 12 seats.
So the Bulawayo seats that have been lost are 25.
CCC might get one senatorial seat through the double candidates who are in 3 constituencies in Bulawayo.
These are genuine CCC candidates that participated in their electoral processes but were not chosen.
For this to happen, people in these 3 constituencies must come out and vote in huge numbers.
Otherwise Bulawayo has lost 25 seats.
Justice Bongani Ndlovu also barred three others from other opposition parties from contesting in this year’s elections for similar reasons. He ruled:
It is declared that the decision of the first respondent (ZEC), sitting as a Nomination Court at Bulawayo on 21 and 22 June 2023 to accept the respondents’ nomination papers and candidature in the elections scheduled for 23 August 2023 is declared null and void and is hereby set aside.
The @CCCZimbabwe will appeal against the Byo Judgment. Citizens have the right to nominate candidates within the ambit of the law & to be represented by MPs that they choose in a free & fair election. The right to parliamentary representation of choice is sacred.
CCC claims that its Bulawayo candidates filed their nomination papers before the 4 PM deadline on 21 June, but the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) asked them to correct signature anomalies. The party argues that its candidates were present at the Nomination Court and ready to file the corrected forms by 4 PM, but ZEC was assisting other candidates, and the process continued into the wee hours of 22 June. The candidates have argued in a court filing that their papers were delivered to ZEC before 4 PM, but the nomination papers appear to have suddenly disappeared while in the court’s custody.
However, ZEC lawyers argued that the CCC applicants were given all the facilities and rights prescribed by the Electoral Act and were not denied their right to file nomination papers. They added that the party had submitted three party lists but did not have one for the provincial council, and Ncube sent their representative back to make corrections on anomalies. The lawyers said the corrected party-list nomination papers were returned with the provincial council party list added, which was not part of the original submission. Ncube denied losing the nomination papers of the CCC members.
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