Harare, (New Ziana) – The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission on Thursday said Zimbabweans should expect to vote in the next general elections between July and August next year.
As such, Zec said by operation of the law, starting next month, no new by-elections for any vacancy that occurs in local authorities and Parliament would be held.
“Section 158(3) of the Constitution provides that polling in by-elections shall take place within ninety days of the vacancies occurring unless the vacancies occur within nine months before a general election is due to be held.
“The last general election held in 2018 was held on the 31st July 2018. It is therefore anticipated from a reading of section 158(3) of the Constitution that general elections will be held on a date to be set during the month of either July or August 2023,” Zec chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba said.
“Members of the public are thus notified that the filling of vacancies that occur on or after the 1st of November 2022 will be suspended pending the conduct of the 2023 general elections.”
While President Emmerson Mnangagwa retains the prerogative to proclaim the election date, section 158 of the constitution states that a general election must be held so that polling takes place not more than thirty days before the expiry of the five-year period of Parliament.
Parliament is elected for a five-year term which runs from the date on which the President-elect is sworn in and assumes office.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa took the oath of office on August 26, 2018.
In preparation for the 2023 polls, Zec is currently embarking on a delimitation exercise to set new electoral boundaries.
While the voters’ roll for delimitation purposes closed in March, voter registration is still going on for purposes of by-elections and the 2023 elections.
Early this year, Zec conducted a voter registration blitz, as part of several pre-election activities that the electoral management body and other relevant stakeholders carried out in preparation for the 2023 polls.
One such stakeholder, the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency, conducted a national population census in April this year whose results are guiding the creation of new electoral boundaries to be used in 2023.
The population census was held a year earlier specifically for that purpose.
In the same vein, the Civil Registry Department conducted a national mobile registration blitz between April and September.
Over three million people secured crucial documents including birth certificates and national identity cards for free during that exercise after the registrar’s department accumulated a huge backlog owing to the travel and working restrictions imposed to combat Covid-19. – New Ziana
