Sadc withholds opinion on Zim polls
Chinamasa: Tsvangirai can go to court
The 60-member election observer mission of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) has concluded its 30 day tour of duty to Zimbabwe elections failing short of saying whether they were fair and credible.
At an exit press briefing in Harare, team leader Tanzania’s Foreign Affairs Minister Benard Membe said “fairness is too broad.”
“We shall give that opinion in our report expected in 30 days,” he said.
But he congratulated Zimbabwe for holding “peaceful and free” elections urging all Zimbweans to accept the outcome of the election “for the sake of your country.”
“Nullifying these elections will not help. At what cost?” Membe asked in response to a question for his take on the opinion of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s remarks on Thursday.
Tsvangirai called the election a huge farce saying they should be nullified because, according to him, there was “massive rigging.”
Sadc mission’s statement has given rise to speculation that the observers also doubt the credibility of the elections that have handed President Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF a landslide in parliamentary polls.
All missions that spoke earlier on endorsed the polls as credible and fair.
Meanwhile, ZANU-PF has challenged Tsvangrai to seek judicial redress “if he is aggrieved.”
Zimbabwe statutes provide a two tier system through which aggrieved candidates could seek redress.
“He knows we have the constitutional court and the electoral court. He can go to any of these than to be making such remarks,” said Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa at an earlier press briefing on Friday.
According to Zimbabwe constitution, anyone aggrieved with the results of particularly presidential elections should complain to court within seven days from the date results have been announced.
The courts are expected to make their ruling within a maximum of 14 days.
If there has been no challenger, the winning presidential candidate should be sworn on the ninth day from the announcement of the results, according to Zimbabwe constitution.
