'ZEC chair can't be cited in poll petitions'

The Electoral Court has said that Zimbabwe Electoral Commission's chairperson cannot be cited as respondent in election petitions, with the court ruling that the litigation was not permissible at law.

Rita Makarau, the ZEC chairperson, had been cited as one of the respondents in some MDC-T petitions challenging the outcome of the July 31 vote.

However, ZEC's lawyers raised an exception, arguing that the chairperson's citation in the application was in violation of the Electoral Act.

Meanwhile, MDC-T Mudzi West losing parliamentary candidate Ushe Mennard Paradzayi has been thrown a lifespan after High Court judge Justice Chinembiri Bhunu ruled in his favour and referred his July 31 election petition to trial.

Paradzayi, who was aggrieved by the outcome of the July 31 harmonised election results in his constituency, petitioned the court alongside 30 other MDC-T losing candidates seeking to have the results nullified.

His petition, however, was challenged by the winning candidate Aquilina Katsande (Zanu-PF), who argued on preliminary issues and raised an exception alleging that the petition was defective.