5 POST - ELECTION PHASE 5.1 Announcement of Overall Results In all Provinces, the public anxiously awaited the announcement of results. ZEC announced results within the stipulated time frame prescribed by the law. Local Authority results came out first, followed by the National Assembly results and lastly the Presidential results. The announced results evinced the following regarding the National Assembly seats: ZANU PF 145, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Alliance 63, National Patriotic Front 1 and Independent 1. The perceived delay in the announcement of the Presidential results contributed to the unfortunate post-election violence. Even though the announcement of these results was still within the legal timeframe, some citizens felt that there was a delay and that the results were being tampered with. This resulted in demonstrations being held at the National Command Centre, being led by members of opposition political parties. The Electoral Management Body initially announced the results for the top three presidential candidates as; Emmerson D. Mnangagwa having 50.8 percent, Nelson Chamisa having 44.3 percent and Thokozani Khupe having received 0.9 percent of the votes. However, the MDC Alliance filed a Constitutional Court petition challenging the announced results. ZEC, made another announcement stating that Emmerson D. Mnangagwa had received 50.6 percent and that Nelson Chamisa had received 44.39 percent of votes. This change was explained on the basis of mathematical/ statistical errors on the part of the Electoral Management Body. In the election petition, ZEC acknowledged that the first set of the presidential results was wrong. The ZEC Chairperson in her court papers, conceded that some polling stations may have been counted twice. She stated that after the correction of the observed errors, the results of Nelson Chamisa increased by 4,483 votes (increase of 0.1%), whilst Emmerson D. Mnangagwa’s votes were reduced by 4453 (decrease of 0.08%). The Chairperson however argued that these mathematical errors that may have happened, were not gross, neither were they sufficient enough to overturn the Page 40 of 55