Mnangagwa to announce elections dates within two weeks

President Emmerson Mnangagwa yesterday said he will proclaim Zimbabwe’s crucial elections within two weeks paving the way for all those that want to contest to start fully-fledged campaigns.

Though there have been complaints about delays in announcing the election dates, the country’s constitutions gives a maximum of 84 days and a minimum of 44 days between the date of the proclamation and the polling date.

The constitution also says Zimbabwe has to hold its elections within 30 days from the expiry of the president’s term of office which means it has to hold its elections between 21 July and 21 August.

The legally acceptable last day by which Mnangagwa has to proclaim elections is 8 July.

There are, however, two cases that are seeking to bar Mnangagwa from proclaiming the elections.

One which demands that Mnangagwa must amend the Political Parties Finance Act to enable government to fund all political parties in the country has already been heard but judgment was reserved.

Currently the government only funds parties that polled more than 5 percent of the vote in the last elections.

Zimbabwe has more than 120 registered political parties at the moment.

The other argues that Mnangagwa cannot proclaim elections because he is not the legitimate president of Zimbabwe because he came to power through a “coup”.

It says Zimbabwe has no president at the moment.

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