HARARE The Zimbabwe Electoral Support Network (ZESN) has renewed calls for by-elections in 20 vacant constituencies, raising questions about the sanctity of a power-sharing pact among Zimbabwes three main parties.
According to the September 2008 global political agreement (GPA), President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Premier Arthur Mutambara agreed a one-year moratorium on the holding of by-elections in the event of the death or promotion of sitting parliamentarians.
Article 21 of the GPA requires that Mugabes Zanu (PF) and the two MDC formations do not field candidates against one another in the event that a seating legislator dies or is disqualified from occupying office. The moratorium expired in September 2009 but, nine months later, Mugabe has not called for by-elections to fill 20 House of Assembly and Senate seats left vacant by the death or appointment to higher office of incumbent legislators.
Noting that the reasons for the moratorium were noble, ZESN was concerned that the delay in ordering by-elections was disadvantaging the electorate in the affected constituencies. ZESN calls for the conduct of by-elections or other ways to ensure that all constituencies are represented through internally democratic principles, the group said. Critics say Mugabe is deliberately delaying calling for by-elections to buy time until general elections set for next year and to avoid an embarrassing defeat.
They accuse the 86-year-old Zimbabwean leader was violating the countrys Electoral Act by not calling for by-elections to fill vacant House of Assembly and Senatorial seats. Some of the vacancies have existed since October 2008, a month after the signing of the GPA. He is also accused of violating the new “political rights” section in the Constitution, which gives every citizen the constitutional right to vote in regular elections. There are currently 12 seats in the House of Assembly left vacant following deaths of MPs or the appointment of seating members to other offices while there are eight vacancies in the Senate.
Zanu (PF) has lost five legislators in the House of Assembly, followed by Tsvangirais MDC-T with four and the breakaway MDC faction headed by Mutambara has three vacancies. Mugabes party has also lost five senators while the MDC-T and MDC have two and one vacancies respectively.
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