The Electoral Court is on Wednesday, 19 July set to hear a dozen applications filed by ZANU PF activists seeking to have CCC National Assembly candidates in Bulawayo disqualified from the 23 August elections.
ZimLive reported that the court ordered the 12 applications, filed simultaneously, to be consolidated due to similar facts.
The applicants, who only describe themselves as “registered voters”, are seeking to have CCC, other opposition parties, and independents barred from contesting.
They are arguing that the defendants filed their nomination papers after the regulated time of 4 PM on 21 June and should not be allowed to contest.
If the applications succeed, ZANU PF could win all 12 National Assembly seats in Bulawayo unopposed.
In the 2018 general elections, the MDC Alliance, which was the main opposition won 11 of the 12 seats.
ZANU PF’s Raj Modi won Bulawayo South after the MDC Alliance fielded double candidates and split its vote.
Meanwhile, CCC argues that all its candidates in Bulawayo filed their papers by 4 PM, but the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) asked the candidates to correct some signature anomalies on the forms.
The party argues that its candidates were ready to file the corrected forms by 4 PM, and were present at the Nomination Court, but ZEC was now assisting other candidates, the party argues.
The process continued into the wee hours of 22 June.
CCC has its own application filed by the 10 candidates for the Provincial Council who were disqualified.
The candidates argued in a court filing that their papers were delivered to ZEC before 4 PM, but the nomination papers appear to have suddenly disappeared while in the court’s custody.
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