Zimbabwe Run-off set for June 27
Posted: Saturday, May 17, 2008

Herald Reporter
May 17, 2008

THE presidential run-off pitting President Mugabe of Zanu-PF and MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai will be held on June 27, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission announced yesterday.

The run-off will be held concurrently with House of Assembly elections in Gwanda South, Pelandaba-Mpopoma and Redcliff, where candidates who had been duly nominated to contest on March 29 died before polling.

ZEC announced the date for the run-off in a statutory instrument published in an Extraordinary Government Gazette released yesterday.

"A poll shall be taken on Friday the 27th June, 2008, for the purpose of electing a person to the Office of President," read the notice.

The regulations were promulgated in terms of Section 192 (1) as read with Section 192 (5) (a) of the Electoral Act with the approval of the Minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs.

In a proclamation also published in the same gazette yesterday, President Mugabe set June 27 as the date on which the House of Assembly elections would be held in the Pelandaba-Mpopoma, Gwanda South and Redcliff constituencies.

Nomination courts will sit on May 30 for purposes of receiving names of prospective candidates intending to contest in the House of Assembly elections.

In Gwanda South, nominations will be received at the Magistrates' Court, Fifth Avenue, while in Pelandaba-Mpopoma the nomination court will sit at the Magistrates' Court, Tredgold Building, in Bulawayo.

Prospective candidates intending to contest in the Redcliff House of Assembly election will file their nominations at the Magistrates' Court, Main Street, in Gweru.

ZEC on Wednesday extended to 90 days from the date of the first election result the period within which the presidential run-off must be held mainly due to the need to put in place the necessary logistics to ensure the smooth running of the election.

The commission announced the presidential poll results on May 2 in which Tsvangirai received 1 195 562 votes, representing 47,9 percent of the valid votes, while President Mugabe polled 1 079 730, which is 43,2 percent of the valid votes.

Since neither candidate achieved an absolute majority, a run-off is required under the Constitution.

The run-off will be held in terms of Section 110 (4) of the Electoral Act, which stipulates that the two candidates who receive the highest and next highest votes shall be eligible to contest in the second round.

With only two candidates, the winner automatically obtains an absolute majority unless there is a tie, in which case Parliament sits as an electoral college to elect the President.

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