Zimbabwe is set to hold its general elections this year to elect a government that will run the country’s affairs for the next five years. The country is waiting for President Emmerson Mnangagwa to announce the election date.
Bulawayo-based legal counsel, Dumisani Dube, explained the legal process pertaining to the proclamation of election dates in Zimbabwe in accordance with the Constitution and Electoral Act.
Dube said according to the legal provisions, the President can publish the election date between 44 and 84 days before the polling day and in accordance with such, there has not been any delay thus far in the announcement of the election date in Zimbabwe.
Generally, the Constitution and Electoral Act guides electoral procedures.
In terms of Section 144 of the Constitution, the president is the one who is supposed to set or fix the election dates.
144. General election resulting from dissolution of Parliament
1. Where Parliament has not earlier passed resolutions to dissolve in terms of section 143(2), the President must by proclamation call and set dates for a general election to be held within the period prescribed in section 158.
2. Where–
a. Parliament has passed resolutions to dissolve in terms of section 143(2);
b. the President has dissolved Parliament in terms of section 143(3); Dismissal of the legislature
c. the President has dissolved Parliament following a vote of no confidence in terms of section 109(4); or
d. Parliament stands dissolved following a vote of no confidence in terms of section 109(5);
the President must by proclamation call and set dates for a general election to be held not more than ninety days after Parliament passed the resolutions or the President dissolved Parliament or Parliament stood dissolved, as the case may be.
3. The dates for a general election called in terms of subsection (1) or (2) must be fixed by the President after consultation with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.
According to Section 158(1) (a) of the Constitution, election to both houses of Parliament and all provincial and metropolitan councils and local authorities must take place not more than a month before the end of the parliament’s 5-year term.
158. Timing of elections
1. A general election must be held so that polling takes place not more than–
a. thirty days before the expiry of the five-year period specified in section 143;
b. where Parliament has passed resolutions to dissolve in terms of section 143(2), ninety days after the passing of the last such resolution; or
c. where Parliament is dissolved in terms of section 109(4) or (5) following a vote of no confidence, ninety days after the dissolution.
2. General elections to local authorities must take place concurrently with presidential and parliamentary general elections.
3. Polling in by-elections to Parliament and local authorities must take place within ninety days after the vacancies occurred unless the vacancies occur within nine months before a general election is due to be held, in which event the vacancies may remain unfilled until the general election.
Dube further explained that President Emmerson Mnangagwa was sworn in on the 26th of August 2018, so essentially the Parliament’s five-year term ends on the 26th of August 2023.
The election day should thus not be earlier than the 27th of July 2023 which is more than 30 days before that. The election dates should thus be between 27th July and 26th August 2023.
The Electoral Act provides for the time limits for other processes on general elections.
According to Section 38 of the Electoral Act:
- After the proclamation of the election date, the nomination of candidates should be between 14 and 21 days
- After nomination polling day must be between 30 and 63 days of nomination day,
38. General, presidential and local authority elections
(1) In a proclamation in terms of section 144(2) of the Constitution fixing dates for the holding of an election to the office of President, a general election and elections for councillors, the President, after consultation with the Commission, shall—
(a) for the purposes of the election of a person to the office of President, fix—
(i) a place or places at which, and a day or days, at least fourteen and not more than twenty-one days after the day of publication of the proclamation, on which a nomination court shall sit for the purpose of receiving nominations of candidates for election to the office of President; and
(ii) a day or days, at least thirty and not more than sixty-three days after the nomination day or last nomination day, as the case may be, fixed in terms of subparagraph (i), on which a poll shall be taken if a poll becomes necessary in terms of section 109(2); and
(iii) a day or days, not less than twenty-eight and not more than forty-two days after the polling day or last polling day, as the case may be, fixed in terms of subparagraph (ii), on which a runoff Presidential election shall be taken if such an election becomes necessary in terms of section 110(3)(f)(iii);
Dube said from the time limits it is apparent that the President must publish his election between 44 and 84 days before polling day in the election,
Therefore, up to today, the president has not delayed in proclaiming the dates in terms of the law.
The hurdle that has brought a stir is the challenge of the delimitation report by MDC-A leader, Douglas Mwonzora, at the Constitutional court, however, no provision in the Act or Constitution gives the court such powers to postpone elections, its in doubt that this will affect election dates.
