REFERENDUMS ACT (as amended at 1st September 2010)
(b) bears any writing or mark by which the voter can be identified otherwise than as is
prescribed in the Electoral Act; or
(c) is not marked with a cross in the appropriate rectangle; or
(d) is marked with a cross which does not indicate with certainty in the appropriate
rectangle whether the voter intended to record a vote in favour of or against the
question or issue to be decided at the referendum.
(3) Immediately after he has counted the votes, the returning officer shall send the Chief
Elections Officer a statement of—
(a) the total number of votes recorded; and
(b) the number of votes recorded in favour of the question or issue to be decided at the
referendum; and
(c) the number of votes recorded against the question or issue to be decided at the
referendum; and
(d) the number of spoilt ballot papers.
(4) As soon as the Chief Elections Officer has received the statement of every returning
officer in terms of subsection (3), he shall ascertain and declare—
(a) the total number of votes in favour of the question or issue to be decided at the
referendum; and
(b) the total number of votes against the question or issue to be decided at the
referendum; and
(c) the total number of spoilt papers;
recorded at the voting throughout Zimbabwe.
(5) The Minister shall notify in the Gazette the numbers of the votes as finally ascertained
by the Chief Elections Officer and the results of the referendum as determined thereby:
Provided that, if the outcome of the referendum is affected by the result of any appeal
brought in terms of section nine, any notification in terms of this section shall be amended
accordingly.
[Section as amended by section 3 of Act 22 of 2004]
9 Appeals
(1) An appeal shall lie to the Electoral Court as to the correctness of any decision of a
returning officer in admitting or rejecting any vote in regard to which there has been a dispute
between the returning officer and an aggrieved party.
(2) An appeal under subsection (1) shall be lodged with the registrar of the Electoral
Court within thirty days after the declaration by the Registrar-General in terms of subsection
(4) of section eight.
(3) Part XXIII of the Electoral Act shall apply, mutatis mutandis, to any appeal under
subsection (1) as if it were an election petition.
[Section as amended by section 3 of Act 22 of 2004]
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