Top court to rule next Wednesday on disputed Zimbabwe presidential results

Zimbabwe’s Constitutional Court is set to make a ruling on the disputed presidential poll results on Wednesday next week.

Nelson Chamisa filed the court application challenging the outcome of the July 30 election last Friday. He wants the court to declare him the winner of the election‚ which his rival Emmerson Mnangagwa won with 50.8% of the votes against his 44.3%.

The top court’s ruling is final and cannot be contested further.

A case management meeting attended by the legal teams of Chamisa and Mnangagwa in the chambers of the Chief Justice of Zimbabwe on Thursday morning‚ was advised that the matter had been set down for hearing on August 22 at 10am.

Chamisa has been directed to file his answering affidavit and heads of argument by 12 noon on Saturday. Mnangagwa has been given till 10am on Monday to file his heads of argument.

Noah Manyika‚ leader of the Build Alliance Zimbabwe on Thursday said he backed Chamisa’s challenge.

Manyika‚ at a media briefing held on Thursday in Harare‚ questioned the final results released by the electoral commission and claimed there had been double counting in some polling stations.

Elton Mangoma‚ the leader of the Coalition of Democrats said they were “working on something” when asked if he backed Chamisa’s court application.

The case will be heard by a full bench of nine judges of the Constitutional Court.