MDC chairman withdraws election challenge

The national chairman of the Morgan Tsvangirai faction of the Movement for Democratic Change Lovemore Moyo has withdrawn his election petition because he was not going to have a fair hearing.

According to a statement from the party, Moyo, who contested the Matobo North seat, withdrew his petition filed at the High Court in Bulawayo on Friday, 17 January.

The former Speaker of Parliament had cited electoral fraud saying all his polling agents were denied entry into the polling stations for over 12 hours on polling day, thereby disabling them from assessing the electoral process.

“Zimbabwe is still far from holding democratic election that are not contestable, therefore it would be naive for anyone to believe that the system that rigged us some six months ago will give us a fair hearing and even in the event that there is a re-run of the election, it is about the environment we find ourselves which is not conducive for elections,” Moyo said.

“ZANU-PF stole the elections and the MDC objects the outcome of that election. That is why we took the case to the courts but we have realised that the outcome is predetermined therefore a waste of time,” he added.

The MDC won only 49 of the 210 seats in the lower house down from 100 in the 2008 elections.

All election challenges must be settled within six months of being filed with the courts.

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