Staff Reporter
The leadership of President, Dr Emmerson Mnangagwa in the Second Republic continues to be applauded for its advocacy for free and fair elections and for being the voice of the voiceless amongst all citizens, as it continues to abide by the Constitution.
According to the 2022 Preliminary Report on the Delimitation Exercise presented in the National Assembly by the Ad-Hoc Committee’s Chairperson Pupurai Togarepi, the members of the committee all agreed that the delimitation exercise was crucial to the successful implementation of free and fair elections.
Speaking exclusively to this publication, Political Analyst, Amos Chibayo articulated that boundaries are critical for the upcoming 2023 elections, since Zimbabwe has a history of contested elections, hence, a constant delimitation process of electoral boundaries is crucial for democracy being advocated by the President.
“It should be noted that the boundaries are critical for the impending 2023 Harmonised General Elections, as they serve to ensure that there is equal voting strengths across the country and it becomes a shame to note that some members of the opposition are turning the successful delimitation into a point of conflict” said Chibayo.
Cde Togarepi emphasized that the Ad-hoc Committee’s main task was to see whether the preliminary report complied with the Constitution.
“In its analysis, the Committee came up with key findings and observation such as, ward boundaries that were delimitated above and below the maximum and minimum thresholds, insufficient information in descriptions of wards, polling stations not indicated on the maps, use of preliminary census data and possible misinterpretations of the minimum and maximum threshold,” read the report.
Meanwhile, the Ad-hoc Committee acknowledged the work that was undertaken by ZEC in fulfilling its constitutional mandate, considering that it’s the first delimitation exercise after the enactment of the 2013 Constitution of Zimbabwe. The last delimitation exercise was done in 2008, 14 years ago.
