The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) says the printing of ballot papers for the presidential election has commenced.
The process started after the Supreme Court dismissed an appeal on Friday by presidential aspirant Saviour Kasukuwere seeking to overturn a High Court ruling barring him from contesting the August 2023 election.
ZEC vice chairperson Rodney Kiwa told The Sunday Mail that the printing of presidential ballot papers has commenced. He said:
We have no problem with the presidential ballot papers now that we have been cleared by the courts. We have started printing those ballot papers.
However, the current court cases relating to National Assembly candidates are impacting the printing of ballot papers.
Kiwa, however, refused to state if ZEC had begun printing ballot papers for elections in National Assembly constituencies that have not been affected by court challenges.
He said the delays in finalising cases were hindering other election-related processes, such as postal voting. Said Kiwa:
We have not yet distributed voting material to those taking part through postal voting.
We received applications and ZEC closed the receipt of applications.
Our challenge now is to send three ballot papers for the presidential, National Assembly and local authority elections to those who qualify for postal voting.
Although we are clear on the presidential ballot, we are not yet clear on the National Assembly.
12 CCC parliamentary candidates in Bulawayo who were last week barred by the High Court from participating in the upcoming elections have appealed the ruling at the Supreme Court.
More: Pindula News