IN SHORT: Messages shared and circulated on various social media platforms that Zimbabwe is going to have fresh polls administered by SADC in the next 3 to 6 months are false. There are no talks currently on Zimbabwe having fresh polls, as the election results have not been legally challenged.
The main opposition party, Citizens Coalition for Change and citizens who feel that the just ended poll was not credible have been calling for fresh elections.
According to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, which is the constitutionally mandated body to run elections, the current President Emmerson Mnangagwa won the 23 August election with 52,6% of the vote compared to close rival Nelson Chamisa of the CCC with 44%. The other 9 share the remaining 3,4% among them.
These results were announced on the night of 26 August 2023.
Following adverse reports on the election by the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and the European Union Election Observer Mission, messages have begun circulating that fresh polls are going to take place in the country within the next 3 to 6 months, under the ambit of SADC.
The post on Facebook by Penelope African Princess reads, ‘# H.E Kikwete coming to draw up conditions for new poll # Zim military establishment in support of fresh polls # SADC admistrated (sic) polls in 3 to 6 months # Reforms before polls. # No ZEC”
The account has 107,000 followers and the post had garnered 377 shares and 7,600 reactions within 24 hours. The same exact post was also published by another user. The two posts are accompanied by a picture of the CCC leader Nelson Chamisa.
A variation of the message also found its way onto WhatsApp, screenshot below and onto Tik Tok, here.
Constitutional mandate
The ZEC is the only constitutionally mandated body to run elections in the country. While its conduct has come under the spotlight and found wanting by the main observer missions, including SADC, there is no provision in the Zimbabwe legal framework for an election to be run without ZEC. In a contested election result, the constitution only allows for a rerun on the order of the Constitutional Court. Section 93 (4) of the Zimbabwe Constitution as amended in 2021, states that, ‘In determining a petition or application under subsection (1), the Constitutional Court may––
(a) declare a winner;
(b) invalidate the election, in which case a fresh election must be held within sixty days
after the determination; or
(c) make any other order it considers just and appropriate”
Precedent
While the SADC has been involved before in resolving disputed elections in Zimbabwe before, this has not included calling for fresh elections. In 2008, following an impasse on the presidential election pitting the late Robert Mugabe against Morgan Richard Tsvangirayi, SADC appointed former South African president Thabo Mbeki as a mediator. This led to the 2009 Government of National Unity. A GNU is a power-sharing government comprising major political parties that coalesce their efforts to end conflict, and is designed specifically to accommodate all opposing political players to participate in government structures.
This move by the SADC resolved the impasse but did not result in a fresh election as this was a political solution to the impasse rather than a legal one.
The claim that Zimbabwe will be having fresh polls in 3 to 6 months is false as there are currently no legal challenges to the results that have been lodged at the Constitutional Court, which has the sole mandate to decide whether a fresh election should be held in the case of a disputed election. Only a court challenge to the presidential results announced by ZEC can start the process that could, potentially lead to a rerun order by the Constitutional Court. To date, the opposition CCC has not lodged a court application. The court application has to be lodged within seven days of the announcement of the election result.
