|
April 14, 2008 THE Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission yesterday said the recount of presidential and House
of Assembly election results would proceed on April 19 as
announced.
ZEC chief elections officer Mr Utoile
Silaigwana said it was within the commission's mandate to
recount election results regardless of parallel court procedures
that might be instituted by any political party.
"It is within our mandate as the electoral
authority to do the recounts and they would proceed as was
announced in our Press statement today (yesterday)," he said.
He, however, said the commission had not
seen a High Court order barring the recount as had been reported
in some sections of the private media at the weekend.
"I have not seen the order barring us from
conducting the recounts, so the process would proceed as
advised," he said.
The private media yesterday reported that
the High Court had issued an order barring the recounts.
But in notices published yesterday, ZEC
announced vote recounts in 23 constituencies, saying: "There are
reasonable grounds for believing that the votes were miscounted,
and that the miscount would affect the result of this election."
The commission called for a recount of
votes cast in the presidential election in terms of Section 61
(4) (a) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe as read with Section 67A
(4) of the Electoral Act.
It also said the recount of votes cast for
the House of Assembly, Senate and local authorities elections
would be done in terms of Section 67A of the Electoral Act.
"ZEC has taken, by this notice, all
necessary steps to inform accredited observers and all political
parties and candidates that contested in this election, of this
decision, and the date, time and place of recount, by sending
copies of this notice to the respective parties' head offices."
Parties represented at the recount would,
in the presence of the constituency election officer, relate to
the documents dealt with by the officer to satisfy themselves
with their (officers) adherence to provisions of the electoral
laws.
The parties would then "count the votes
cast, with strict adherence to the procedure that was followed,
in respect of material used at the election, including returns
that were made at the time of the initial count and kept at the
constituency centre as provided by the Act".
"The respective constituency election
officers shall then act in terms of Section 67 of the Electoral
Act, to transmit without delay, by telegraph, tele-facsimile or
electronic mail, in the prescribed form, to the chief elections
officer, the names of the persons declared duly elected, the day
effective from which he or she was declared elected, the number
of votes received by the respective candidates, the number of
rejected ballot papers, in respect of the recount."
Once the procedures have been followed,
the results of the House of Assembly and Senate constituencies
would then be transmitted to the Clerk of Parliament.
"In respect of the presidential poll, the
constituency election officer and the chief elections officer
shall, after the recount, act in respect of votes received by
each candidate at the recount, in terms of the Second Schedule
to the Electoral Act," ZEC said.
Recounts will be conducted in Chimanimani
West, Mutare West, Bikita West, Bikita South, Bulilima East,
Zhombe, Zaka West, Zvimba North, Silobela, Chiredzi North,
Gokwe-Kabuyuni and Buhera South.
Other constituencies, including Lupane
East, Mberengwa East, West, North and South, Masvingo Central
and West, Gutu South, North and Central and Goromonzi West would
also conduct recounts.
The recount comes after Zanu-PF unearthed
anomalies in the way V11 and V23 forms were completed by ZEC
officers, some of whom have since appeared in court charged with
electoral fraud. |