Consigned  to  the  dustbin  of  history  –  many  of  the  parties  and     presidential  candidates  of  2018.         However,  the  violence  that  followed  the  election  on  1  August,  in  which  six  people  were ��killed   during  an  opposition  demonstration,  and  the  Constitutional  Court  challenge  of  the  Presidential   results  by  MDC  Alliance  leader  Nelson  Chamisa,  once  again  raised  questions  around  the  legitimacy   of  the  elections.  Chamisa’s  challenge  was  based  on  section  93  of  the  Zimbabwe  Constitution   accusing  the  Zimbabwe  Election  Commission  (ZEC)  of  ‘irregularity,  involving  a  mistake  or  non-­‐   compliance  with  the  law’.  This  irregularity  in  turn  ‘affected  the  validity  of  the  election  meaning  that   it  deprived  citizens  of  a  free  and  fair  election’.5                         The  irregularities  against  the  ZEC  included  several  issues:  Lack  of  independence;  failure  to  provide  a   complete  voters  roll;  counting  of  Presidential  ballots;  and  undue  influence  on  voters.  The   Constitutional  Court  dismissed  Chamisa’s  challenge  on  the  basis  of  the  lack  of  ‘clear,  sufficient,   direct  and  credible  evidence  that  the  irregularities  that  he  alleges  marred  the  election  process   materially  existed’.6    Given  the  greatly  politicised  nature  of  the  Zimbabwean  judiciary  this  decision   came  as  little  surprise.       In  their  preliminary  report  the  international  observers  both  praised  and  criticised  the  election   process.  The  EU  noted  that:                                                                                                                 5 6    N.  Chamisa,  Applicant’s  Head  of  Argument  in  the  Constitutional  Court,  CCZ42/18.      Constitutional  Court  Decision,  CCZ42/18.   6