Hosia Mviringi
President Emmerson Mnangagwa has proclaimed March 26 2022 as the by-election date.
The polls are meant to fill 28 vacant seats in Parliament.
The notice carried in Proclaimation 1 of 2022 set January 26 as the date for the nomination court.
This means that parties have less than three weeks to conduct by-elections.
“Now therefore, under and by virtue of the powers vested in the President by the aforesaid, I do, by this proclamation order new elections for the aforementioned constituencies and fix Wednesday the 26th day of January 2022 as the date on which nomination courts shall sit, commencing at 10 O’clock in the morning,” the Gazette read.
A total of 28 House of Assembly seats fell vacant as a result of either recalls after members ceased to belong to political parties that sponsored them into Parliament, death of members or as a result of appointment of a member to another post.
The MDC-T party recalled a total of 17 members from the House of Assembly while ZANU PF recalled one member, Cde Killer Zivhu.
The Zimbabwean Constitution of 2013 outlaws floor-crossing, meaning that a member of the House of Assembly relinquishes their seat as soon as the Speaker of Parliament is notified of such floor crossing by the Party on whose ticket the said member would have entered the house.
Upon receipt of such notification, the Speaker will then notify the President of the existence of a vacancy in the House, resulting in the President fixing the date for a by-election by way of a Proclamation.
By-elections are a constitutional requirement meant to ensure that people’s right to national representation is upheld.
The continued prevalence of the Covid-19 pandemic has seen Zimbabwe postponing all manner of electoral activity as a precautionary measure to mitigate its spread.
Meanwhile, the nation stares in the face of a long election season, as harmonised elections beckon barely 19 months after the by-elections.
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