Mugabe signs new poll bills
2005-01-16 15:48
Harare - Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has signed into law two electoral bills giving him power to appoint members of a commission overseeing the crucial parliamentary polls in March, according to the official gazette issued on Saturday.
The government has said the legislation will bring Zimbabwe into line with principles adopted at a summit of southern African leaders in Mauritius in August.
But the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which is threatening to boycott the upcoming elections, has dismissed the reforms as cosmetic and meaningless.
The Electoral Commission Act gives Mugabe powers to appoint members of an "independent" commission to oversee all elections and referendums, beginning with legislative polls due in March.
Mugabe will appoint the head of the commission in consultation with a judiciary services commission and four other members from a list of seven nominees submitted by parliament.
The second bill, the Electoral Act, allows for the setting up of an electoral court to settle disputes arising from elections, and creates a body to monitor the elections.
Zimbabwe is to hold parliamentary elections in early March that Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party hopes will strengthen its hold on power.
The publication of the laws come as Zanu-PF members from 59 of the country's 120 constituencies are Saturday voting for their preferred candidates.
Nominees from 51 constituencies were selected unopposed, a move that sparked unprecedented protests by party members who accused the party leadership of imposing candidates on them.
In the remaining seats, the selection process will take place next week.
The government's chief spokesperson and information minister Jonathan Moyo, bitter at his exclusion from the poll, has accused some top senior party officials of trying to settle a personal vendetta.
Moyo was barred from running when the Zanu-PF leadership decided that a woman would be chosen to represent the party in his constituency.
The Zanu-PF primaries have attracted the most interest in living memory with state radio running regular updates of live reports from its journalists stationed across the country where the voting is taking place.
Voting started peacefully around mid-morning in most areas with a few reportedly delayed due to late arrival of ballot papers.
- AFP