Chamisa blames forgeries in CCC double candidate controversy

The Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) maintains it did not field double candidates at the nomination court on Wednesday ahead of August 23's elections, instead the party says over a dozen National Assembly candidates purporting to be standing on its ticket forged signatures.

CCC leader Nelson Chamisa has vowed legal action to have the unofficial candidates removed from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission's final candidate list.

Chamisa said the double candidate controversy was "a huge scam" designed to confuse voters.

"Our teams have just been to ZEC to inspect the submitted nominations. It's clear that the so-called ‘double candidates' forged signatures and the CCC logo. Our CCC logo is embossed and not a photocopy as is the case with the ‘double candidates.' In addition, those nominations were not countersigned for by the designated officials of CCC," he tweeted on Thursday.

"It's clearly a sting operation! We will explore the remedies available at law which enjoin ZEC to resolve this matter. We are pursuing this remedy with immediacy and urgency necessary."

The double candidate problem appeared to affect mainly National Assembly races in Harare, Bulawayo and Masvingo.

Speaking on Wednesday just after the close of the nomination court, Chamisa the party had a foolproof plan to avoid double candidates.

"We don't have any double candidates except for certain individuals in Masvingo who stole some papers yesterday (Tuesday) and forged signatures. So, it's not a case of double candidates but fraudulent activities. It's a criminal thing that has been reported to the police. We don't foresee any problem of double candidates because we only have two signatories, and they cannot have double candidates," Chamisa said.

In Harare East where Rusty Makham and Tendai Biti made it to the final CCC shortlist and Markham emerged as the preferred candidate, one Malvin Razaru also filed papers as a CCC candidate.

Kudakwashe Chatambudza was the only candidate on the official CCC shortlist for Epworth South, but two names, Solomon Baramasimbe and Dydmus Bande, have emerged on a ZEC list, making a total of three CCC candidates vying for that constituency.

Joanah Mamombe is the CCC candidate for Harare West, but one Farai Michael Padzarondora appears alongside her as a CCC candidate.

There are more double candidates in St Mary's, Mt Pleasant, Churu, Chitungwiza South, Chitungwiza North, Harare South, Hatcliffe, Hatfield, Hunyani and Harare Central.

In Bulawayo, three constituencies have two CCC double candidates – Phelandaba Tshabalala, Entumbane Njube and Pumula.

CCC deputy spokesman Gift Ostalos Siziba said: "It's clear that there is a pattern of misinformation and fraud, carefully designed to paint a picture of confusion in CCC by those fearing elections.

"Zanu-PF and its agents are desperate and creating shadowy individuals to dampen the citizens' conviction for change. All these desperate attempts will not derail the course of change and our legal teams across the country are working to fix this malfeasance manufactured by FAZ (Forever Associate Zimbabwe) and distributed by ZEC."