Zimfact dismisses social media post on candidates nominations during elections
By Memory Mudzani
Zimfact issued out a report stating that Zimbabwean laws do not explicitly prohibit a convicted person from running for public office, following the social media posts that went viral stating that a person convicted in a court of law cannot run for public office.
According to the information issued out by Zimfact the social media post followed the imposition of a fine on Citizen Coalition for Change (CCC) spokesperson Fadzai Mahere over charges of disseminating false information.
According to provisions of the national constitution as recorded by Zimfact, Zimbabwean laws do not explicitly prohibit a convicted person from running for public office.
The Zimbabwe Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, simply states that every citizen has the right to run for public office.
Section 67(3) (a) of the 2013 Constitution states that every Zimbabwean citizen who is of, or over eighteen years of age has the right to stand for election for public office and if elected to hold such office.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Act, in Section 45D as recorded by Zimfact it spells out grounds under which a party list candidate can be disqualified by ZEC and there is no such information which states that a person convicted in a court of law cannot run for public office.
The law being applied to administer elections in Zimbabwe is clear that every citizen has the right to run for public office, except for a special clause governing the nomination of local authority candidates, where one cannot run for office after being convicted of a crime of dishonesty.
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