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Zimbabwe: Presidential and general elections to be held by July 31 – Mugabe
But Judge Luke Malaba, in his dissenting opinion available on an official website Sunday, said his colleagues’ ruling “defied logic” in finding Mugabe was in breach of his constitutional responsibilities “and at the same time authorizing him to continue acting unlawfully” by proclaiming a July date. “That is a very dangerous principle and has no basis in law. The principle of the rule of law just does not permit such an approach,” wrote Malaba.
He said the new constitution makes it clear that elections can be held within four months of the automatic dissolution of the parliament on June 29 and to hold them in July compromises constitutional rights for the electorate as a whole “to play a meaningful role in the electoral process,” Malaba said.
A private lawsuit brought before the constitutional court to force Mugabe to call early polls turned clear and unambiguous language in the law into “a question of interpretation that plunged the court into irreconcilable differences.”
“I, however, refuse to have wool cast over the inner eye of my mind on this matter,” concluded Malaba.
Source: Associated Press
