No elections in 2008? (28-06-07)

hat Mugabe, who will be President in office when the bill comes into force as an Act, need not subject himself to re-election until the next general election is held in 2010.
“His term, in other words, is extended to the next general election,” said Rindai Chipfunde-Vava of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network. “So President Mugabe will not have to face the voters until 2010, unless he chooses to dissolve Parliament before then in 2008.”
Mugabe can single-handedly make laws in the absence of Parliament, which is usually dissolved in preparation for the poll.
Political and civic groups said the clause that changed the President’s term of office and the method of electing a new President in the event of a President’s death or resignation did not specify any particular majority by which a new President must be elected, “so one must assume that a simple majority of the Senators and MPs present and voting will suffice.”
It is widely believed that President Mugabe wants to contest the next presidential election and then, if he wins, step down in favour of a chosen successor who will be duly elected by a grateful party using its majority in Parliament.
“This proposed change is undemocratic, because if it is accepted that an executive President must be elected by popular vote, which the Constitution does in section 28(2), then his or her successor should be similarly elected,” said Chipfunde-Vava. “The fact that elections are expensive cannot justify a provision that would allow an executive President to hold office without a popular mandate. The only exception might be if the President died or resigned shortly before his or her term of office was due to expire within six months, say. In that event a successor could be chosen by Parliament, but even then it would be better to allow one of the Vice-Presidents to act until the next Presidential election.”
The Bill also changes the composition of the Senate and the House of Assembly.
The new House of Assembly will have 210 members, 200 of which will be elected in single-member constituencies. Most of the members of the House of Assembly will now be directly elected, unlike under the current arrangement where the President appoints directly or indirectly 30 of the 150 members.
The size of the Senate will be increased from 66 to 84. The voters within constituencies will continue to elect 50 of the Senators. The remaining 34 members will consist of persons who are either directly or indirectly appointed by the President.
Chipfunde-Vava said the trumpeted reduction in the number of MPs that Mugabe appointed into the Lower House of Parliament from 30 to 10 was a non event as the numbers were compensated in the Senate where Mugabe now single-handedly appointed a massive 34 senators instead of the 16 he appointed in the sixth Parliament.
“The total number of presidential appointees in Parliament will only be reduced from 46 to 44,” said Chipfunde-Vava. “The fundamental point is that the Executive should not be allowed to appoint any members of the Legislature and governors at all. The only exception to that rule should be the chiefs, who have a legitimate role to play in the Senate even though they owe their initial appointment to the President.”