Mwonzora pulls of out August 23 elections; blames Zanu PF, ZEC

By Thabiso Nxumalo | Bulawayo Correspondent

MDC-T leader Douglas Mwonzora has withdrawn from the August 23 elections where he was running for the presidency, accusing the ruling Zanu PF party and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) for “rigging” the vote.

The opposition politician said participating in the presidential vote would amount to endorsement of what he described as “sham” and a “farce”.

“We are boycotting this farce, we are boycotting this sham; we are boycotting this presidential election,” he told reporters at the party’s Morgan Tsvangirai House offices in the capital.

Mwonzora accused the electoral management body of unfair treatment, lamenting that ZEC had refused to accept nomination papers for 87 of his party’s candidates for Parliamentary elections.

He said even if he was to win the presidency, it would be difficult to govern without control of the legislature.

“We have seen massive disenfranchisement, mass disqualification of a good number of people. There is no doubt why the MDC is being treated in a different manner from other political parties, it is because the MDC took ZEC to court over delimitation,” Mwonzora said.

“The delimitation that we fought against is now in force and its effects are now clear on this election. Right now, as we are speaking, ZEC is busy changing boundaries of wards and constituencies. It has added more than a 1,000 more polling stations because delimitation was invalid.”

He added; “Having seriously considered this, and being a patriotic Zimbabwean, I took part in the crafting of the constitution of our land. I believe that the constitution is not there for decoration.

“I believe that there is a minimum standard of integrity required in our electoral system, and I believe that the mass disenfranchisement of our people, the discrimination of one party by the election management body, and with the concurrence of my party, I have withdrawn my candidature in this election.”

His party’s 24 candidates for Parliament would however, still run in the elections.

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