Parliament Targets To Complete Electoral Law Reform In Two Months
Parliament is targeting to complete the electoral law reform process in the next two months before the lapse of the First Session of the Ninth Parliament. This is argued would allow the country to lay the foundation for the 2023 harmonised elections.
The urgency given to completing the process follows the petitioning of the Parliament by the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN). Parliament observed the petition as a sound document which reinforces the participation of the public in the law reform process.
Speaker of Parliament Advocate Jacob Mudenda said that the petition had come at an opportune time to strengthen the country’s democratic processes. Addressing Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs and civic society Mudenda said:
Let us be mindful of some sense of urgency on this matter of trying to achieve free, fair, transparent and credible elections in 2023. Thus, the time to start the process of electoral reforms is now before the lapse of the First Session of the Ninth Parliament.
Within two months, we must produce a prototype electoral law that will satisfy our aspiration for free, fair, transparent and credible elections in 2023.
Adv Mudenda added that the petition filed by ZESN on December 3, 2018, was an important pillar in democracy. He also hailed ZESN for pushing Zimbabwe to embark on electoral law reforms.
Mudenda, however, called upon stakeholders to be careful about elements of democracy they would incorporate in the Zimbabwean community as other practices do not resonate with local systems.
More: The Herald
