Announcing the results at the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission national command center in the capital today, ZEC’s Chief Elections Officer, Lovemore Sekeramayi said: “A total of 3 079 966 votes were received in favour of the adoption of the draft constitution.
“A total of 179 489 votes were received against the adoption of the draft constitution and 56 627 votes were rejected as they did not show the intention of the votes.”
He added: “I now announce that since the majority of the votes were received in favour of the draft constitution the draft constitution is adopted as the constitution of Zimbabwe.”
ZEC Chairperson, Justice Rita Makarau commended the peaceful holding of the referendum.
“On behalf the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, I would like to thank and congratulate the people of Zimbabwe for the demonstration of maturity shown during the conduct of the referendum, which was a peaceful process throughout,” said Makarau.
The draft constitution now goes to Parliament for formal enactment into law.
Zanu (PF) COPAC co-Chairperson, Paul Mangwana, speaking on the process said: “There is a mandatory 30 days of gazzetting which should be done to repeal the old constitution. The draft constitution will have to go to Parliament for adoption and after that await Presidential assent.
“My estimation is that within the next 45 days, this process will have been complete,” said Mangwana. MDC-T COPAC co-Chairperson, Douglas Mwonzora said that there will be no room for Parliament to amend the COPAC constitution when it goes for formal promulgation.
“I would like to emphasise that Parliament is not going to amend the constitution because they act on behalf of the people who in this case have already spoken. It will be a formality with very little debate.
“I would also want to highlight that once this constitution has been signed into law, certain provisions to do with issues of citizenship, aliens, the security system and the bill of rights will come into effect,” said Mwonzora.
Both Mwonzora and Mangwana commended the high voter turnout for the constitutional referendum which they said was the highest since the country held its polls in 1980.
The Minister of Constitutional and Parliamentary Affairs, Eric Matinenga expressed optimism the COPAC draft constitution will sail through Parliament.
“Parliament made this thing and how can Parliament reject it. The adoption of this draft constitution is a major step forward in the democratization process in Zimbabwe,” said Matinenga.
Post published in: News
Dear Editor-Hats off to Inclusive Government-Let me hail the inclusive government by managing to run the constitutional referendum with our own local resources. This shows maturity, professionalism& expertise.Also the people of Zimbabwe deserve praise for peaceful environment that prevailed during the one day national event as well as the historic voter turnout.Now that we own our constitution, I urge all Zimbabweans to focus on national development&desist from violence&inhuman acts.We demand human rights upholding, transparency& accountability from our leaders.