In a move that has been described as anti-democratic, Zimbabwe has suspended parliamentary and council by-elections originally scheduled for December, as well as any other election process indefinitely, as a result of the global coronavirus pandemic.
Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, who is also the Health Minister of the country, on Friday, amended the 2020 Public Health Regulations and suspended all by-elections the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) had scheduled for 5 December. “…the holding of any by-election to fill a casual vacancy in parliament or in a local authority is, for the duration of the period of the declaration of COVID-19 as a formidable epidemic disease, suspended and if such vacancy occurred while such declaration is in force, no part of the period from the date of such vacancy to the date of the end of the declaration shall be counted for the purposes of section 158(3) of the Constitution,” the Statutory Instrument 225A of 2020 reads.
Indefinite Suspension Is A Threat To Democracy
Reacting to the announcement, the opposition alliance, MDC, which is led by Nelson Chamisa in a statement on Twitter, accused the federal government of taking advantage of the pandemic to set the stage for an extension of its tenure. “The suspension of by-elections is a vicious assault on the will of the people and the greatest threat to our democracy in as many decades. This is fascism. Democracy is dead. The people must and will fight back to defend their votes.”
Meanwhile, Trust Maanda, the Election Resource Centre chairman, has described the suspension of by-elections by Chiwenga was unconstitutional.
“It is not only illegal but unconstitutional because elections are timed in terms of the provisions of the constitution and there can be no regulation particularly by a single minister that can overturn or usurp the authority of the constitutional provision,” Maanda said. Adding that “Power to govern is derived from the people through constitutional means and the constitution provides for how people must be governed and anything outside that is illegal and also affects one of the three arms of the state, which is Parliament, and there will be a crisis.”
The decision of Zimbabwe comes as a surprise as other countries have set wheels into motion ahead of their upcoming polls.
