Zimbabwe will hold a general election in the second half of next year, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) said Thursday.
By-elections for vacancies that occur in local authorities and the Parliament after next month have therefore been suspended pending the conduct of the 2023 general elections, the country’s elections management body said in a statement.
Zimbabwe’s Constitution provides that polling in by-elections shall take place within 90 days of the vacancies occurring unless the vacancies occur within nine months before a general election is due to be held.
The last general election was held on July 30, 2018.
“It is therefore anticipated from a reading of the Constitution that general elections will be held on a date to be set during the month of either July or August 2023,” ZEC chairperson Priscilla Chigumba said.
Although President Emmerson Mnangagwa retains the prerogative to proclaim the election date, the Constitution states that a general election must be held so that polling takes place not more than 30 days before the expiry of the five-year period of Parliament.
The term of the current Parliament started when Mnangagwa took office on Aug. 26, 2018. The ZEC is currently conducting a delimitation exercise to set new electoral boundaries, in preparation for the 2023 polls.
Next week, the ruling ZANU-PF party will hold its elective congress in the capital Harare where Mnangagwa is expected to be endorsed as the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 polls. Enditem
