ZIMBABWE PRESIDENTIAL PETITION UPDATES : INSIDE CONCOURT
According to Zambian Observer,
Nelson Chamisa’s lawyer Advocate Thabani Mpofu says the fact that ZEC has already accepted that the first set of results is wrong, it must then follow that the electoral commission has no primary data to support those results. The law says u must verify results.
Advocate Thabani Mpofu said there was a skewed media coverage environment.
“It is fact that the Voters Roll given to the applicant was not the one used on the day of the elections. ZEC admits to making at least five errors.”
Adv. Mpofu: The declared results arise from data that ZEC now says it’s wrong.
Adv. Mpofu: There are 60K teachers involved in the ZEC processes. There are 20 000 teachers who voted. In Norton, 900+ people voted when 600 people were registered to vote and ZEC officials said that was a slip of the tongue.
Adv. Mpofu: There are 16 polling stations with identical results.
Mpofu: A verification of the presidential results is a verification of V23 but ZEC was verifying results at ward level.
There were instances Chamisa and Mnangagwa getting the same figures and the same spoilt papers at several polling stations and it looks as if a kid was playing with figures, says Mpofu. ZEC has changed the results three times and that cannot be accepted, he adds.
Mpofu says a contrasting pattern of results at adjacent polling stations raises suspicion of rigging.
Mpofu also alleges that the postal voting was unlawful, saying ZEC does not dispute that there was a mock voting in police stations. Mpofu adds that those who apply for postal voting should have their ballot papers posted to their homes but this did not happen.
Adv. Mpofu: We do not need the primary evidence.
C.J. Malaba is asking why Adv. Mpofu is going for speculative evidence.
Adv. Mpofu: Can the court verify these figures. And if it cannot, significant doubt is cast on these figures.
Cornered on why Nelson Chamisa’s MDC Alliance did not choose to have the ballot boxes opened, Mpofu says most of their arguments have nothing to do with the revisit to the residue, citing differences in presidential and parliamentary tallies, as one example.
Mpofu says the fulcrum of the applicant’s case is not premised on the residue. He adds that they are sitting over 9000 votes that do not require the opening of the residue because those votes came from ghost polling stations
The applicant had no reason to cause the opening of ballot boxes for a recount and is not obliged to do so, says Mpofu, especially when there is evidence placed before the court that figures released by ZEC were not genuine and consequently Mnangagwa did not win the election.
Court is adjourned once again. (Earlier in the detail).
Nelson Chamisa’s lawyer Advocate Thabani Mpofu says the fact that ZEC has already accepted that the first set of results is wrong, it must then follow that the electoral commission has no primary data to support those results. The law says u must verify results.
Advocate Thabani Mpofu said there was a skewed media coverage environment.
“It is fact that the Voters Roll given to the applicant was not the one used on the day of the elections. ZEC admits to making at least five errors.”
Adv. Mpofu: The declared results arise from data that ZEC now says it’s wrong.
Adv. Mpofu: There are 60K teachers involved in the ZEC processes. There are 20 000 teachers who voted. In Norton, 900+ people voted when 600 people were registered to vote and ZEC officials said that was a slip of the tongue.
Adv. Mpofu: There are 16 polling stations with identical results.
Mpofu: A verification of the presidential results is a verification of V23 but ZEC was verifying results at ward level.
There were instances Chamisa and Mnangagwa getting the same figures and the same spoilt papers at several polling stations and it looks as if a kid was playing with figures, says Mpofu. ZEC has changed the results three times and that cannot be accepted, he adds.
Mpofu says a contrasting pattern of results at adjacent polling stations raises suspicion of rigging.
Mpofu also alleges that the postal voting was unlawful, saying ZEC does not dispute that there was a mock voting in police stations. Mpofu adds that those who apply for postal voting should have their ballot papers posted to their homes but this did not happen.
Adv. Mpofu: We do not need the primary evidence.
C.J. Malaba is asking why Adv. Mpofu is going for speculative evidence.
Adv. Mpofu: Can the court verify these figures. And if it cannot, significant doubt is cast on these figures.
Cornered on why Nelson Chamisa’s MDC Alliance did not choose to have the ballot boxes opened, Mpofu says most of their arguments have nothing to do with the revisit to the residue, citing differences in presidential and parliamentary tallies, as one example.
Mpofu says the fulcrum of the applicant’s case is not premised on the residue. He adds that they are sitting over 9000 votes that do not require the opening of the residue because those votes came from ghost polling stations
The applicant had no reason to cause the opening of ballot boxes for a recount and is not obliged to do so, says Mpofu, especially when there is evidence placed before the court that figures released by ZEC were not genuine and consequently Mnangagwa did not win the election.
Court is adjourned once again. (Earlier in the detail).