Elisabeth Valerio, the leader of the United Zimbabwe Alliance (UZA), may now run as the only female candidate for president in the elections scheduled for August 23 after the High Court granted her appeal against the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission’s initial rejection of her nomination papers.
Alec Muchadehama, Valerio’s attorney, said ZEC has been instructed to take the required steps to guarantee the UZA leader is added to the ballot shortly after the verdict was handed down.
“So we had appealed against ZEC’s refusal to register President Valerio on the ballot paper. So our appeal was successful. So the court ruled that what ZEC had done was incorrect.
“So ZEC is supposed to take all necessary steps to make sure that she is registered on the ballot paper and be contesting in the election to be held on August 23,” Muchadehama said.
The ruling comes after Elisabeth Valerio appealed against ZEC’s decision to reject her nomination papers when the Nomination Court sat last month.
The Nomination Court rejected Valerio’s nomination despite submitting proof that she had paid the nomination fee in full.
The leader of Labour, Economists and African Democrats (LEAD) Linda Masarira was the other woman who had expressed her intention to contest in the presidential elections and her nomination papers were also rejected.
