New elections under current constitution: Zanu PF

ZANU PF has warned that new elections will have to be held immediately under the current Independence charter if the MDC parties insist on declaring the constitutional reform process deadlocked. The MDC parties had pinned hopes for “free and fair” new elections on a new charter but the constitutional reform process has stalled after they rejected Zanu PF’s amendments a recently completed draft.


The parties accused Zanu PF of throwing out several key provisions and declared the reform process deadlocked during meetings with the SADC facilitation team in Harare this week. “I can confirm that the MDC formations have conveyed to us that they want a deadlock to be declared. The facilitation team requested that they should write to President Robert Mugabe,” Zanu PF negotiator Patrick Chinamasa said after Wednesday’s meeting. “The MDC formations have undertaken to put that in writing to the President. I hope that they would do that soon.” MDC negotiator Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga confirmed her party would soon advise Mugabe of its position noting: “It was Zanu PF that said we had not responded to their draft for a deadlock to be declared, so we will soon respond to them,” she said. Zanu PF has suggested coalition principals discuss and explore the possibility of some accommodation over its amendments but the proposal was rejected out of hand by the MDCs. “In our view, there is not even a need for a meeting of the principals,” Misihairabwi-Mushonga said. MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai added: “I want to make it clear that the principals [coalition leaders] don’t have a veto power on the constitution. The principals in the GPA cannot substitute the sovereign will of the people of Zimbabwe to determine how they should be governed.” The new constitution was part of a raft of reforms expected to culminate in new elections next year.

 The MDCs had hoped the charter would help ensure a credible poll as well as prevent the violence experienced in 2008. But Zanu PF spokesman, Rugare Gumbo, said if the MDC parties declare the reform process deadlocked, new elections would have to be immediately held under the current constitution. “Once a deadlock is declared, then elections will be inevitable,” Gumbo said. “But if they are inclined to have a deadlock, so be it, we resort to the Lancaster House Constitution.” The MDCs want SADC, which has been facilitating negotiations between the parties, to intervene and help break the impasse. “(The) issues raised by the Zanu PF draft are so fundamental as to warrant the invitation of a facilitator to come in,” Misihairabwi-Mushonga said. Tsvangirai added: "The only arbiter which is available is SADC. We can't even discuss the issue. SADC is quite aware of this delicate moment to unlock the dispute.” Zanu PF claims the draft ignores views expressed by members of the public on several key issues during a national outreach programme. “It was from this perspective that Zanu PF saw it fit to make amendments where necessary to ensure that the draft Constitution was Zimbabwean in nature,” Gumbo said. Changes proposed by Zanu PF include a rejection of the U.S. style presidential running mates in elections. In addition the party also wants the death penalty upheld but dual citizenship, devolution and homosexual rights thrown out.