HARARE – MDC-T leader Douglas Mwonzora is on a collision course with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), after the elections body said his attempt to have his name removed from the ballot paper in the race for president was submitted out of time.
Mwonzora announced Tuesday he was boycotting the August 23 election, but ZEC maintained that he had missed the 21-day notice period.
Now, Mwonzora has told ZimLive that his withdrawal was communicated to ZEC as far back as August 2.
“They can’t force me. I have withdrawn from the race,” Mwonzora told ZimLive on Wednesday.
“Since when has ZEC respected timelines? In recognising the period (for withdrawal), you don’t include the first day. The point is that my decision has been made. What ZEC says is of no consequence. We are out of the race.”
Mwonzora would not say if he would go to court to insist on his name being removed from the ballot paper.
The opposition leader on Tuesday described the August 23 election as a “sham and a farce”.
He said ZEC refused to accept nomination papers for 87 of the party’s candidates for the National Assembly, meaning that even if he won the presidency he would not have control of parliament.
“We are not going to be part of the baptism, blessing of this sham. This election is a farce,” Mwonzora told a news conference in Harare.
“We have seen massive disenfranchisement, mass disqualification of a good number of people.
“There is no doubt why the MDC is being treated in a different manner from other political parties, it is because the MDC took ZEC to court over delimitation.
“The delimitation that we fought against is now in force and its effects are now clear on this election.
“Right now as we are speaking ZEC is busy changing boundaries of wards and constituencies. It has added more than a 1,000 more polling stations because delimitation was invalid.”
