MDC candidate withdraws poll petition against Muzenda

Crispa Musoni, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) candidate for Gutu North in last June’s parliamentary election, withdrew his petition in Zimbabwe’s High Court on Monday, in which he was challenging the victory of Vice-President Simon Muzenda of the ruling ZANU-PF. The ‘Daily News’ reported on Tuesday that Musoni’s lawyer, advocate Happias Zhou, told Justice James Devittie that his client did not wish to pursue the matter. Zhou did not give reasons for the withdrawal. In his petition, Musoni had said Muzenda won the election through corrupt practices. He also alleged that war veterans and ZANU-PF supporters had intimidated and attacked his supporters in the run-up to the election. Muzenda polled 14,867 votes against Musoni’s 8,179 votes. Meanwhile, according to the report, Devittie is expected to deliver four judgments on Thursday and Friday in petitions he has presided over since February. One of them is the case in which MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai is challenging the victory of Kenneth Manyonda in Buhera North.