News / National
Poll reform process ongoing, says Mugabe
20 May 2015 at 07:24hrs | Views
The electoral reform process is already underway, with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission practically having taken over from the Registrar-General, the responsibility to register voters and conduct all national elections in terms of the new Constitution, Government has said.
Responding to a case in which MDC-T is challenging the constitutionality of holding elections before aligning the Electoral Act to the new supreme law, Government lawyers said while the Electoral Act was yet to be amended, credible elections could be held under prevailing conditions.
President Mugabe, together with Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, were listed in the application as the 4th and 5th respondents, respectively, in their official capacities and lawyers from the AG's Office are representing them.
In the application filed in January this year, the Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC-T sought to stop by-elections and any other polls before the alignment of the Electoral Act.
The party argued that ZEC, in terms of the new Constitution, was mandated to register voters, compile voters' rolls and registers, ensure the proper custody and maintenance of voters' rolls and registers, among others, but that it had not yet assumed those duties.
In the heads of argument filed last week by the AG's Office, Government urged the Constitutional Court to dismiss the challenge, arguing that the objections raised in the matter were petty and could not stop a democratic electoral process.
Responding to a case in which MDC-T is challenging the constitutionality of holding elections before aligning the Electoral Act to the new supreme law, Government lawyers said while the Electoral Act was yet to be amended, credible elections could be held under prevailing conditions.
President Mugabe, together with Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, were listed in the application as the 4th and 5th respondents, respectively, in their official capacities and lawyers from the AG's Office are representing them.
The party argued that ZEC, in terms of the new Constitution, was mandated to register voters, compile voters' rolls and registers, ensure the proper custody and maintenance of voters' rolls and registers, among others, but that it had not yet assumed those duties.
In the heads of argument filed last week by the AG's Office, Government urged the Constitutional Court to dismiss the challenge, arguing that the objections raised in the matter were petty and could not stop a democratic electoral process.
Source - The Herald