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It is all systems go for the upcoming much awaited 3 February 2024 By-elections according to Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) Deputy Chairperson Ambassador Rodney Kiwa.Speaking Exclusively to TechnoMag which quizzed the Zec Deputy Chairperson during a Live presser, Ambassador Kiwa said,
“By elections will go on in spite of the Supreme Court yet To Rule on the status of the Bulawayo Citizens Coalition for Change CCC 12 and other candidates who appealed a high court ruling which barred them from contesting in the upcoming by elections.”
These by-elections were necessitated by the recall of 14 CCC members of the National Assembly and nine Senators by the opposition party’s self imposed interim secretary-general Sengezo Tshabangu last month.
President Mnangagwa then subsequently proclaimed February 3 as the date for the by-elections in the nine constituency seats as he must, under the Electoral Act, once notified of the vacancies by the Speaker of the National Assembly.
Remaining vacancies in the National Assembly and all in the Senate are for legislators elected by proportional representation and here the CCC will name the replacements.
“Everything has been deployed and the beauty of it is when we conducted the August 23/24 elections there is a small percentage that we add just in case there are spoilt materials and so forth, so we have everything for the February 3by-elections,” he said.
When quizzed on allegations they are taking sides, Ambassador Kiwa disagreed.Kiwa said,
“We as Zec are not biased, we only follow the law.”
Zec will therefore the day after tomorrow hold elections in All areas being contested.All is in place for the Bulawayo by-elections and other areas slated for this weekend.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission boss also said they have put all systems and materials in place to ensure a seamless by-election in the last contested constituencies.
These by-elections will be held to elect the National Assembly representatives for the constituencies after elections to choose the legislators following the recall of the concerned CCC candidates, by the self proclaimed interim Secretary General , just after the August general polls.
SG Sengezo Tshabangu has meanwhile forwarded his own candidates who are not aligned to the outgoing CCC President Advocate Nelson Chamisa who resigned last week.Zanu PF will be represented by the party’s candidates, who were heavily defeated in the first round of election as the constituency’s National Assembly members in August 2023.
Only double candidates from CCC will represent CCC, one from National Constitutional Assembly NCA and others competing as independent candidates.
The ZEC vice chairperson Ambassador Kiwa told TechnoMag that “everything is in place”. ZEC was taking the by-election seriously, with ZEC chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba already reportedly having visited some concerned constituencies to ensure seamless polls the day after tomorrow.
As soon as MP’s for affected areas are elected, the focus will move to finish the rest set of nine by-elections on 3 February and Ambassador Kiwa said the material for those was also already in place.
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