Zimbabwe’s Electoral Court has begun hearing Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s challenge of the re-election of President Robert Mugabe in the July 31 polls. Mugabe’s swearing in has been put on hold and investors have been cautious since the re-election of the 89-year-old leader because of his policy of seizing foreign owned firms. Tsvangirai and his Movement for Democratic Change accuse the Zimbabwe Election Commission of rigging the election for Mugabe’s Zanu PF party. On Wednesday, they were at the Electoral Court to force the commission to produce all election materials. Lewis Uriri, the lawyer for Tsvangirai, told reporters that the court reserved judgment. “Clearly time is of essence here,” he said. “We need access to those materials to demonstrate beyond doubt that the election was not properly conducted, to demonstrate the will of the people was not reflected in that election. There must be a reason why they do not want to produce those materials. That reason is that there are definitely, definitely, definitely, ghosts in those sealed materials that they do not want us access.”
The election commission declared that Mugabe defeated Tsvangirai, 61 to 34 percent in the July 31 polls, which Tsvangirai is challenging. He wants the election commission to produce all election material before the Constitutional Court hears the challenge of Mugabe’s re-election on Saturday.
Since his re-election, Zimbabwe’s stock market has been on a downward fall. Christopher Mugaga, an economist who heads Econometer Global Capital in Harare, says the stock market will only recover if Mugabe comes clear on the “indigenization” policy that was part of his election campaign. Indigenization refers to Zimbabwe’s policy of seizing the majority stake of foreign owed companies.
Full Article: Zimbabwe Court Takes Up Mugabe Re-election Challenge.
The Voting News
A News Service of the Verified Voting Foundation
