Jonathan Moyo poll challenge dismissed
BULAWAYO – An electoral petition by Media, Information and Broadcasting Services Minister Jonathan Moyo challenging the parliamentary election victory of the MDC-T’s Roseline Nkomo in Tsholotsho North was dismissed on Thursday.
Moyo approached the Electoral Court arguing that the July 31 election had been marred by a lot of irregularities in Wards One to Nine as well as Ward 21, and he sought nullification or a rerun within 90 days of an ruling being made.
According to affidavits by Moyo’s polling agents that were attached to his petition, some presiding officers allegedly conducted the counting process in the absence of the polling agents.
He said his election agent Vincent Moyo and more than 225 Zanu PF polling agents reported incidents of inconsistencies, which compromised the authenticity of the results.
Presiding judge Justice Martin Makonese however ruled that Moyo’s petition was fatally defective and was of no force or effect.
Nkomo’s lawyer Kucaca Phulu successfully argued that the petition lacked specifics and was instead characterised by Moyo’s subjectively loaded opinions, generalisations and vague accusations of electoral impropriety mainly levelled at Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.
