Mugabe not keen on delaying elections

PRESIDENT MUGABE is not keen to delay the holding of national elections beyond June 29 as that will be tantamount to constitutional indiscipline, Presidential spokesperson Mr George Charamba has said.

Elections must be held at the lapse of the Presidential term.

President Mugabe was sworn in on June 29, 2008 and the Constitution stipulates that elections must be held every five years.

Mr Charamba said the country should hold national elections between now and June 29 when the presidential five-year-term of office expires.

"There is a very strong constitutional imperative. Our Government has a five-year-life span. You notice that is always defined around the President's date of swearing in. The

President was sworn in on the 29th of June 2008, come the 29 of June this year, the term of Government and the term of Parliament come to a close. When that happens we must go to the elections immediately and that means we must have elections before the 29th of June," he said.

Mr Charamba said the UNWTO summit to be held in August also has a bearing on the election dates.

"We have the UNWTO summit that is coming in August. The expectation is that by that time we must have a substantive Government in place which is able to give that event the organisational seriousness that it deserves. When you look at all those factors then you realise we must have our elections before the 29th of June.

"However, there is an allowance within the Constitution that should Government come under pressure for whatever reason it has the prerogative of extending elections by another three months beyond the date where the elections fall due, except this can only happen in circumstances which are demonstrable and in our reckoning, we do not think there is reason to do so. After all if we move beyond June 29 it will mean we will not have the three arms of Government namely the executive, judiciary and the legislature," he said.

Mr Charamba said the court action by MDC MPs demanding the holding of by-elections and the resultant High Court judgement giving the President up to the end of this month to declare election dates also determines the timelines for the polls.

"But because of the constitution-making exigencies, clearly Government will have to go back to the court and seek some variations to that judgement, it is no longer possible for us to uphold it but still it creates that compulsive pressure on the executive which must be complying with court action. These factors shape the electoral calendar," he said.

Mr Charamba said while it was possible to extend the term of the executive it was impossible to extend the life of the legislature.

"You will not have three arms; you will have three arms minus the legislature. While this is possible it is not what we must wish for. The Minister of Justice is looking at other options at how to handle the election timelines to make sure we hold the elections within the June 29 bracket. There is no conflict between the President and Minister of Justice.

"The President is stressing that beyond 29 June we will be using the Constitutional clause extending the life of the executive which he decries  because it suggests indiscipline in the country," he said.

Added Mr Charamba: "We have diplomatic reasons for compressing processes that we vote by June 29. We have the governance justification for it. There is legitimacy issue at stake as well. We have stressed the legitimacy of inclusive Government for far too long."