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Fidelis Munyoro Chief Court Reporter
The MDC Alliance is threatening to boycott the forthcoming elections next month unless their demands are met.

The alliance is accusing the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) of failing to meet its legal and constitutional obligation to provide the voters’ roll.

In a statement yesterday, MDC Alliance presidential candidate Mr Nelson Chamisa’s chief election agent Mr Jameson Timba said ZEC should apologise to the people of Zimbabwe for the delays in availing the voters’ roll rather than saying only an earthquake will stop the election.

“We do recognise and respect ZEC’s role as a referee in this election, but it is important that ZEC understands that other than an earthquake, the players on July 30 can stop the election by refusing to participate in a sham,” said Mr  Timba.

“In addition, outside an earthquake, and the players, the people of Zimbabwe who are tired of these shenanigans can refuse to participate in the said sham election that would have failed to meet the test outlined in our constitution and the enabling electoral act and ZEC regulations irrespective of what ZEC says.

“ZEC’s efforts must, therefore, be directed at assuring the public that it is doing all it can to conduct a free, fair and credible election and be seen to be doing so. That’s their duty period.”

Mr Timba criticised Justice Chigumba’s comments, saying they were a cause for concern.

“With all due respect to the chairperson of ZEC, Justice Chigumba, these utterances are not expected from a public officer whose task amongst others is to instil confidence in an electoral process by assuring the nation that preparations for the plebiscite are being done with due care and transparently,” he said.

Addressing her inaugural weekly media briefing on Monday, Justice Chigumba said the July 30 harmonised elections could not be stopped for whatever reason, with aggrieved candidates only being able to challenge the outcome of the polls.

“Once the President has proclaimed the election date, there is nothing short of an earthquake which can stop the election, so whether candidates scrutinise the voters’ roll, whether they see any anomalies in it, whatever the anomalies are, whatever legal recourse they have will not stop the election,” she said.

“I want that to be very clear that is the law.”

A record 23 presidential candidates were cleared by ZEC last week to contest in the harmonised elections set for July 30. Analysts said it would be impossible to stop the elections because of an MDC Alliance boycott, considering the high number of candidates and political parties that are participating in the election.