By-elections delay illegal, ZEC must seek court order
On Tuesday July 6, 2021, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) vice-chairperson Emmanuel Magade indicated that the commission is ready to conduct by-elections as soon as the imposed suspension is lifted.
The Electoral Resource Centre (ERC) insists that the commission should pursue a court order to postpone by-elections and should execute its mandate independent of the executive.
The administration of by-elections does not fall under the purview of the commission alone.
To ensure compliance, the commission must recommend that President Emmerson Mnangagwa proclaim by-elections or the commission seeks a court order to postpone the conduct of byelections and give a timeline to the suspension.
Currently, the president is in violation of the law. Consequently, the president and ZEC must seek a court order postponing the proclamation of by-elections.
It is ERC’s contention that:
• Utterances made by Magade puts the commission at the disposal of the executive.
This puts to question the capacity of the commission to act independently without external influence as stated by the law.
• Due to the Covid-19 global pandemic, the commission must extensively consult with medical experts, political parties, civil society organisations and ordinary citizens on whether or not to conduct by-elections.
The commission should collect evidence and ascertain whether to conduct by-elections or to suspend.
Should the evidence indicate a risk in administering by-elections under the Covid-19 pandemic, the commission can thus seek a court order to suspend by-elections, as witnessed in South Africa.
• By-elections present the commission with an opportunity to test electoral reforms.
ZEC should invest in actively pursuing long outstanding administrative reforms, a position already adopted by the government and awaiting operationalisation.
Electoral Resource Centre