Court overturns government election challenge ban

Zimbabwe’s Supreme Court on Tuesday declared null and void a decree banning challenges against results of last year’s parliamentary election that was narrowly won by President Robert Mugabe’s ruling ZANU-PF party, news reports said. Chief Justice Anthony Gubbay was quoted as saying that the Electoral Act of 2000 infringed candidates’ rights to seek legal recourse in disputed election results. “It is declared that ... Notice 2000 SI 318 of 2000 is null and void,” Gubbay said. The Supreme Court heard the Movement for Democratic Change’s (MDC) appeal earlier this month against Mugabe’s December decree that effectively invalidated the MDC’s legal challenge of 39 of the 62 seats won by ZANU-PF.