The opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) has given the 41 candidates who were “fraudulently” registered under the party for National Assembly and local authority elections 24 hours to withdraw their papers or they will be dragged to court.
The party claims that the “fraudulent candidates” were allegedly smuggled in by the controversial Forever Associates Zimbabwe, a Zanu PF-affiliate linked to the Central Intelligence Organisation to give an impression of confusion after attempts to infiltrate its structures failed.
The nomination courts for the August 23 elections sat last week to register candidates, with Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) lists afterwards reflecting that the CCC had fielded double and in some cases triple nominations.
In a statement on Monday, CCC spokesperson Fadzayi Mahere said they had filed complaints with the police and Zec but had not received responses so far.
“Pursuant to our Press briefing on 22 June 2023, we filed objections against double candidates in terms of the procedure provided for under the Electoral Act. We have received no response from Zec,” Mahere said.
“Consequently, we have noted an electoral appeal to the Electoral Court under EC3/2023 against the decision of the nomination court to accept the nomination forms of fraudulent double candidates whose forms carried forged signatures.”
“Should the fraudulent candidates withdraw their candidature within 24 hours, the CCC will not persist with both the civil and criminal proceedings against them.”
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