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Wallace Ruzvidzo-Zimpapers Elections Desk

HARMONISED elections slated for August 23 will go ahead as scheduled and nothing, including the present court challenges, will derail them, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has said.

As such ZEC has started the printing of ballot papers for constituencies and wards where there is no contestation.

Reacting to claims that some cases before the courts could result in delays or possible postponement of the polls, ZEC said all is set for the elections. This comes as the court has delayed the dispatch of voting materials after ZEC suspended the printing of ballot papers that will be used for the presidential election, as well as in more than a dozen National Assembly polls.

However, ZEC vice chairman Ambassador Rodney Kiwa told The Herald yesterday that failure to hold the harmonised polls on the date proclaimed by the President was not an option. 

Amb Kiwa said the printing of ballot papers was already underway with those constituencies where there are court contestations being the only exceptions. 

He said ZEC was “very much on top of the situation”. “Elections will be held on August 23, 2023, as proclaimed by His Excellency, the President on May 31, 2023. We are printing ballots for those constituencies and wards that are not being contested in the courts. “We will share that information at the appropriate time but be assured that ZEC’s procurement is very much on top of the situation,” Amb Kiwa said.

ZEC said a court application filed last week by a presidential hopeful, Mr Saviour Kasukuwere, challenging the decision to bar him from contesting the election had stalled the printing of ballot papers for presidential elections.

Mr Kasukuwere filed an application at the Constitutional Court seeking an order to quash a ruling by the Supreme Court that upheld a High Court order nullifying his nomination to run as a presidential candidate. ZEC is expected to advise of the printing timelines soon after the conclusion of the outstanding application, which is currently before the courts.

Meanwhile, ZEC said following the holding of successful Chiefs Council elections last week, the stage had been set for the conducting of polls for the president and deputy president of the Council on Thursday.

Full story on www.herald.co.zw

“Everything is set for elections for the president and deputy president of the Council,” said Amb Kiwa in an earlier interview with The Herald.

A total of 36 chiefs were duly elected to the National Council of Chiefs across the country in a glitch-free environment that sets the stage for the election of the Council’s president and deputy president.

Last week’s election saw five chiefs being elected in Manicaland, Mashonaland Central (4), Mashonaland East (4), Mashonaland West (4), Masvingo (5), Matabeleland North (5), Matabeleland South (4) and Midlands (5).