JUSTICE IN ZIMBABWE 101 ____________________________________________________________________ In May 2002, alongside its story about prostitutes being released by the police in return for sexual favours, The Standard newspaper published a colour photograph of a prostitute skimpily clad in a G-string. The police questioned the editor and the entertainments editor about this photograph and said that they were going to be charged with contravening s 13(1)(a) of the Censorship and Entertainments Control Act. Topic 7 7. THE ELECTORAL CASES The election petitions arising out of the June 2000 elections Introduction In the Parliamentary elections held in June 2000, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change secured 57 out of the 120 contested seats. Alleging widespread violence and intimidation of voters, the party filed 37 election petitions in which it challenged the results in constituencies where it had lost to the ruling ZANU (PF). Most of the petitions alleged that the results were affected by general violence and intimidation committed by ZANU (PF) supporters with the active or at least covert support of the successful candidates. It was vital for ZANU (PF) to succeed in defending or quashing the petitions, because the opposition MDC had already won so many seats in Parliament that if it succeeded in only 18 of the petitions, and won any resultant by-elections, it would have secured an absolute majority in Parliament. The ruling party’s survival, therefore, depended on the outcome of the election petitions. Delays All the petitions were presented within the 30 days after the results of the election were announced, as required by s 133(2) of the Electoral Act153. Thereafter it was the duty of the Registrar of the High Court and the parties to ensure that the petitions