Result of sham poll illegitimate

By Alex Bell
27 June 2008

The Southern African Litigation Centre has again defended its well researched claims that Morgan Tsvangerai is constitutionally and legitimately Zimbabwe’s new president.

The report released on Monday was based on the legal opinions provided by Senior Counsels David Unterhalter, Wim Trengove and Max du Plessis on different aspects of Zimbabwean electoral law.

The three top legal minds argued that the Zimbabwe electoral commission was not constitutionally authorised to extend the run-off and that the regulatory powers it used in order to extend the run-off, “constitute an impermissible and unconstitutional delegation on the part of Parliament, that it violates the separation of powers principle and that insufficient guidelines were given to limit such delegation”.

The report also states that “if there can be no lawful run-off now the residual principle applies and the Chief Elections Officer is required to declare the candidate with the greatest number of votes the duly elected President”.

SALC’s director in South Africa, Nicole Fritz told Newsreel on Friday that the run-off should not be taking place, because violence and intimidation made it impossible that a free and fair election can be held.

Fritz said: “These opinions assume critical importance in light of recent developments. They provide clarity in what seems an increasingly uncertain situation, and they debunk claims by Mugabe that he is the lawfully elected President.”