Members of Parliament are breathing fire over the the preliminary delimitation report by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) which was done without considering final census report , and the inputs from various stakeholders.
Speaking during the debate on the parliamentary Adhoc committee on the Delimitation Report in the National Assembly Mps fumed over the irregularities in the report.
“So to be very polite, ZEC did a disastrous job and the Chairman was very soft in his report. It was very diplomatic in his report but the truth of the matter is that it was a disastrous report if the truth be told ,” said Harare East Legislator Tendai Biti.
Makoni North MP James Munetsi (Zanu PF) questioned the credibility of the upcoming elections.
“Zec did the report from what they know, and not from statistics. Therefore we cannot trust them to run an election which will free ,fair and credible,” he said.
Hon Chinotimba quired on the stakeholder consultation by ZEC
“ZEC also did not go to the people to inform them on what they were about to do. They did not also go to the traditional leaders; they are important. Us as Members of Parliament, we were not informed that we are coming into your area of Buhera to do this and that,” Hon Chinotimba.
Hon Markham pointed out mismatches with the number of the registered voters which were supplied by ZEC.
“There is an issue of irregularities in the numbers supplied to us by ZEC. Despite us not having the Voter’s Roll and despite us not having a Census Report, ZEC gave us a figure for the whole country. I would have done it slightly different because I compared wards, constituency figures and the total in the Voters Roll and there are discrepancies in every factor,”added Markham
Zec chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba presented the preliminary delimitation report to President Emmerson Mnangagwa on December 26 last year who then brought it to Parliament on January 6 this year.
The delimitation report has since been analyzed by Parliament’s ad-hoc committee and is now before the National Assembly where it is being further scrutinized and debated.
Legal think-tank Veritas says if either House recommends that the delimitation report be referred back to Zec, President Mnangagwa will have to send it back to Zec for reconsideration.
“If, as seems likely, the report is referred back to Zec, the Commission will have to consider the issues raised by Parliament, in addition to any the President himself may raise, but Zec’s decision on them will be final.
Then Zec will send its final delimitation report to the President and he will publish it as a proclamation in the Gazette, added Veristas
The law says the report must be done six months before and the six months end on the 28th February 2023
