The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has adjusted its presidential election results by slightly reducing incumbent president Emmerson Mnangagwa’s win by over 4,000 votes.
In opposing papers filed at the Constitutional Court to challenge a petition submitted by the Movement for Democratic Change Alliance seeking invalidate Mnangagwa’s victory, ZEC reduced the figures by 0.1 percent.
According to the privately-owned Daily News, ZEC reduced Mnangagwa’s win from 50.8 percent to 50.6 percent, noting that some polling stations were counted twice due to a data capture error.
“After the correction of the observed errors … Nelson Chamisa gained 4,483 votes representing a change of 0.1 percent of the announced results whilst Emmerson Mnangagwa’s votes reduced by 4,453 votes representing a 0.8 percent of the announced results.”
“Overall the final computations do not alter significantly the announced 2018 presidential results.”
The corrected figures altered Chamisa’s final results to 44.39 instead of the 44.3 announced by ZEC a few days after the July 30 presidential poll.
Chamisa claims that he garnered 60 percent of the votes cast and Mnangagwa had less than the required 50 plus one vote.
He is challenging the results in court hoping that the Constitutional Court will declare him the winner of the poll, declare Mnangagwa unduly elected and nullify the results of the election.
The court may make any decision it sees fit as prescribed in Zimbabwe’s constitution, including ordering a re-run.
ZEC, which is among several entities and individuals cited as respondents in the MDC Alliance court petition, said even with the mistake, the president-elect has met the fifty-percent plus threshold required to win the poll.
The ruling Zanu PF party has filed opposing papers, arguing that the case should be thrown out of the Constitutional Court as it was allegedly submitted outside the time frame stipulated in Zimbabwe’s constitution.
Twenty-two people contested the presidential poll, which the MDC Alliance claims was fraught with irregularities, including vote rigging in favor of Mnangagwa and his Zanu PF party.