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Mutare High Court
Movement for Democratic Change Alliance (MDC Alliance) v Zimbabwe Electoral Commission & Anor
ECMT 1-18
Case Details
Court
Mutare High Court
Date
17 July 2018
Citation
ECMT 1-18
Neutral Citation
[2018] ZWHMT 1
Outcome
unknown
Case Type
Urgent Application
Bench
Presiding
MWAYERA J
Full Bench
MWAYERA J
Areas of Law
Electoral LawAdministrative Law
Keywords
postal votingsecret ballotelectoral commissionpolice officersconstitutional rights
Tags
postal ballotelectoral lawsecret ballotpolice voting
legislation
Statutes Cited
- Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20) 2013
- Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20) 2013
- Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20) 2013
- {'section': '73(1) (proviso)', 'treatment': 'applied / interpreted', 'for_proposition': 'Members of disciplined forces must apply for postal ballot through commanding officer', 'interpretation': 'Commanding officer’s process knowledge is statutory and does not infringe individual secrecy', 'verbatim': '“… application for postal ballot paper by members of a disciplined force may be made to the Chief Elections Officer only through the commanding officers.”'}
- {'section': '74(1)(d)', 'treatment': 'cited (descriptive)', 'for_proposition': 'Envelope structure for postal vote'}
- {'section': '75(1)', 'treatment': 'applied / interpreted', 'for_proposition': 'Postal voter must mark ballot “secretly”; no supervision required', 'interpretation': 'Once ballot papers are issued the voter is alone; no external presence is contemplated', 'verbatim': '“… shall … secretly place on the ballot paper a cross …”'}
- {'sections': '76–79', 'treatment': 'cited (context)', 'for_proposition': 'Complete postal-voting regime'}
ai analysis
Case Summary
Key Issues
- {"issue_text":"Whether the court should grant an interdict to stop postal voting that had already concluded","issue_type":"procedural","dispositive":"yes","related_facts":"Postal voting closed on 14 July 2018, application heard on 17 July 2018"}
- {"issue_text":"Whether postal voting conducted by police violated the constitutional requirement of secret ballot","issue_type":"constitutional","dispositive":"no","related_facts":"Allegations of group voting under police supervision"}
- {"issue_text":"Whether the applicant provided sufficient evidence to support allegations of violation of electoral law","issue_type":"evidential","dispositive":"yes","related_facts":"Applicant relied on hearsay and anonymous sources"}
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background
Facts of the Case
Background
The MDC Alliance sought to interdict the Zimbabwe Republic Police from conducting supervised postal ballot voting and have previous postal votes declared null and void, alleging violations of constitutional secret ballot requirements. The application was brought after postal voting had already closed.
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