By Dorrothy Moyo| The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba yesterday threatened MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa and others with imprisonment.

Chamisa a week ago said he would announce the election results on his own, due to the commission’s failure to meet legal standards.

Speaking in response yesterday, Justice Chigumba was short of mentioning Chamisa’s name when she said that it is an offence to announce election results.

Chigumba said anyone who announces results before ZEC shall be liable to a fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months or to both fine and imprisonment.

Said Chigumba, “the commission has witnessed incidents where some elements have tried to destabilise the processing of the postal vote on the pretext of demanding transparency.

“In particular, ZEC would like to condemn an incident that occurred at the ZEC district office in Zvishavane where a group of MDC-Alliance members disrupted the issuing of postal vote envelopes to 78 applicants supposed to be deployed for electoral duties. Stakeholders are reminded that it is an offence in terms of Sections 186 of the Electoral Act (Chapter 2:13) for a person to wilfully interrupt, obstruct or disturb any proceedings taken in terms of the Act. Any further disruption by any party or stakeholder may force the commission to invoke this provision for those found in breach.”

Meanwhile Justice Chigumba also warned against against interrupting, obstructing or disturbing any electoral proceedings. She spoke concerning an incident that occurred in Zvishavane, where some MDC-Alliance members allegedly disrupted the issuing of postal vote envelopes to 78 applicants supposed to be deployed for electoral duties.