Derek Matyszak was reacting to reports claiming the two MDC formations were proposing a constitutional amendment that would see the life of the House of Assembly being extended beyond June 29 when the tenure of parliament expires. This would allow more time for the implementation of fundamental reforms.
But Matyszak said while it’s important to have key reforms in place before elections there are only three crucial pieces of legislation that certainly need amendment before elections. “The most important is the Electoral Act, because that needs to be amended to take into account the provisions relating to proportional representation and then you need to tweak the Local Government Act and probably the Provincial Councils Act.
“So those are the only three pieces of legislation that absolutely must be changed before the elections, and I would have thought that parliament would have been able to do that by June 29th.”
The lawyer told SW Radio Africa that President Robert Mugabe has the power to use the Presidential Powers Temporary Measures Act to introduce other legislation “though it would be undesirable for the President to use those powers in this situation.”
The new constitution is set to be enacted into law when parliament resumes in early May. It is this new charter that will determine the setting of the poll dates and the general conduct of the elections.
In the new constitution 60 seats will be reserved for women on a proportional representation system. The parliamentary seats will be distributed based on the proportion of votes that each party receives in each province.
Matyszak said this is why the Electoral Act will need to be amended to cater for this new system. However he added: “I expect to see a lot more blood on the floor if you consider that you might have candidates within each party who are uncertain of winning their constituencies; they might decide that they want to take the safer route of being on top of the proportional representation list.
“And I don’t know if the parties have even agreed if a person can stand both as a constituency member and also be on the proportional representation list, either as a woman representative or as a member of senate.
“If you are not a member of parliament then your chances of becoming a minister are severely reduced because I think only five people can be appointed ministers from outside parliament. So there is going to be very stiff competition to get high up on those PR lists and I expect some serious infighting as a result.”
He said there are strong arguments for proportional representation in a deeply divided society like Zimbabwe where political parties will be represented in parliament according to their strength, unlike the current first past the post system, which stipulates that the winner takes all.
Matyszak said: “If you think about the first past the post system, the party that for example gets 49 percent, can end up with absolutely no representation in parliament because every constituency was won by 51 percent by the other side. So it’s a winner takes all system which is very dangerous and destabilising in an already deeply divided society.”
The MDC formations in the inclusive government have consistently complained that there is a great deal of resistance by ZANU PF to introduce any other reforms. Matyszak said the new constitution will also render several sections of other legislation unconstitutional – such as various provisions in the Broadcasting Services Act and the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act.
He believes these are the issues that the drafters of the new constitution should have worked on at the beginning.
“If ZANU PF hasn’t agreed to these reforms in the many years of the unity government they are not likely to do so in the few months remaining before elections.” Matyszak added: “That is why I say it is not strictly necessary to extend the life of parliament because you will be extending it for reforms that are unlikely to take place in any event.”
MDC leader Welshman Ncube denied his party is calling for the extension of parliament. We were not able to reach Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai for comment. – SW Radio Africa News
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