Zim presidential poll winner needs 51 percent

Zim presidential poll winner needs 51 percent - ZEC

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By Lebo Nkatazo

THE winner of Zimbabwe’s presidential election must get at least 51 percent of the total vote, or a rerun will be ordered within 21 days between the two candidates with the most votes, the head of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) said Thursday.

George Chiweshe, the ZEC chairman, moved to allay fears by opposition candidates that President Robert Mugabe may seek to use a conflict between the Electoral Act and a provision in the law’s schedule which states that a candidate who gets the most votes must be declared winner.

Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights raised this concern a fortnight ago and threatened to go to court to challenge the Electoral Act. Their concerns were that the schedule of the Act - an addendum to the Act which is meant to provide explanatory detail to the main part of the law - did not specify the majority of votes needed by the presidential candidates, but just specified "a greater majority", whereas the Act explicitly makes the 51 percent requirement.

Chiweshe said: “A candidate should get a greater number of votes than those cast for all his competitors combined (50 plus 1 vote). The law provides for a rerun after 21 days if any of the contesting candidates fail to get a majority."

Chiweshe – speaking to SADC election observers -- also dismissed opposition claims that the counting of votes for Saturday’s general elections had been centralised.

He said: “The results will be signed by elections officers and witnessed by observers at the polling station. I am saying this because I am aware of a section of the society who misconstrued what we said.

“Results will be posted outside polling stations but collated at various centres. The presidential elections results will be counted at polling stations but collated by the chief electoral officer at the central command centre. We did not mean that all ballot boxes will be carried to the national centre. Those suggestions are without basis, they are not genuine concerns.”

Analysts predict President Mugabe faces a fight of his life against the challenge of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and his former finance minister Simba Makoni. The three-way splitting of votes, analysts say, raises the prospect of a second round of voting -- the first time that would have happened in the country's history.
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