Zimbabwean journalist and government critic Hopewell Chin’ono has said that Nelson Chamisa’s Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) has been left with a few option on the table to overturn the recently held Zimbabwe plebiscite.
Chin’ono made the comment on X (formerly Twitter) after the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres congratulated President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa for being declared winner of the 2023 Zimbabwe elections by the Zimbabwe Election Commission (ZEC).
Said Chin’ono, “The congratulatory message by the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres diminishes any chance and hopes of a new election in Zimbabwe after a shambolic election which was called our by the SADC election observer team.”
The Zimbabwe government critic said it leaves the opposition with few options on the table, mainly pushing for reforms in parliament and the international political theatre.
“The SADC Troika of Zambia, Namibia and Tanzania has 2 countries supporting Mnangagwa, Tanzania and Namibia, and Zambia supporting the call for an emergency SADC summit to deal with the SADC Election observer team report.
“The failure to counter the ZEC result with V11s has weakened the opposition’s case leaving it only based on the shambolic election result and not the result itself.
Chin’ono also said that the failure by Chamisa’s party to collect V11s complicates the party’s case.
“The V11s that the opposition has don’t show a conclusive election victory. The opposition failed to deploy election agents who would have collected the V11s in all polling stations.”
Both sides are now entangled in a propaganda war based on ZEC results for Zanu-PF, and the SADC report for the opposition.
ZEC refused to produce its V11s arguing that the opposition should have collected V11s at polling stations.
V11s are the forms that show each polling station’s results, and are signed by all competing parties through their polling agents.
The V11 system was brought it as part of election reform during the Morgan Tsvangirai days due to disputed election results.
Source – Byo24
