Nomination Fees Court Challenge Not Urgent - Justice Mutevedzi
The High Court on Monday ruled that an application challenging the exorbitant election candidate nomination fees submitted by opposition politicians and pro-democracy campaigners is not urgent.
This is despite the fact that the nomination court, which is responsible for receiving and vetting nomination papers from candidates who wish to contest in the 2023 parliamentary, presidential, and local government elections, sits tomorrow, 21 June 2023.
The court challenge was filed by former presidential candidate Egypt Dzinemunhenzva, Harare North MP Allan Markham, Vongai Zimudzi and Tapiwanashe Chiriga who filed their initial application in September 2022.
They are being represented by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR).
The opposition politicians and pro-democracy campaigners are challenging the nomination fees set by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) for candidates for the 2023 general elections.
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Presidential candidates are required to pay US$20 000, Parliamentary candidates, US$1 000, while candidates for Local Government seats are required to pay US$200.
In their application, which was filed last year, Dzinemunhenzva, Markham, Zimudzi and Chiriga, who are represented by Obey Shava of ZLHR argued that the nomination fees are too high and should be withdrawn.
In an update posted on Twitter on Tuesday, 20 June 2023, ZLHR said High Court judge Judge Justice Munamato Mutevedzi on Monday ruled that the application is not urgent. Reads the post:
High Court Judge Justice Munamato Mutevedzi on Monday ruled that the application seeking an urgent determination of a challenge of exorbitant nomination fees for the 2023 general elections is not urgent and that the matter should be set down for hearing on a normal and ordinary court roll.
In the application, Shava argued that Statutory Instrument 144 of 2022, which amended the nomination fees for the 2023 general elections, is “unconstitutional, unreasonable and have the effect of blocking aspiring candidates from participating in elections.”
Meanwhile, Parliament’s Legal Committee (PLC) recently approved the candidate nomination fees set by ZEC after it was tasked by the Constitutional Court to review SI 144 of 2022.
The Constitutional Court application challenging the nomination fees had been filed in April this year by the Nationalists Alliance Party (NAP).
More: Pindula News
