Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi said that ZANU PF will lead the delimitation process to demarcate constituency boundaries for the upcoming 2023 harmonised elections.
Ziyambi’s remarks may be construed by critics of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) as confirmation that the electoral body doesn’t have full control over electoral processes.
According to the electoral law, ZEC is solely responsible for conducting the delimitation exercise to ensure free and fair elections.
Addressing ZANU PF Mashonaland West delegates attending a provincial coordinating committee (PCC) meeting held at Mazvikadei Resort over the weekend, Ziyambi said:
We, as the governing party, will lead the delimitation process.
You cannot say that you are ruling and do things that result in you getting out of power.
There is no political party that boots itself out of power.
As ZANU PF, we must do things that we are all agreeable to as we come up with electoral boundaries.
We will have another meeting to discuss how the delimitation process is going to be conducted.
Delimitation of parliamentary constituencies and wards is determined by the number of registered voters in an area. The exercise is done soon after the population and housing census.
Ziyambi also said delimitation consultations within ZANU PF will start soon in Mashonaland West, before rolling out to the other nine provinces.
The Zvimba West legislator hinted that the province, currently with 22 parliamentary seats, could have two or three additional seats to be created by the upcoming delimitation exercise.