What Parliament Ad Hoc Committee said about delimitation report- full report

5.0   RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 The Committee recommends that ZEC should take due regard to the census population in its totality in the delimitation exercise and not just the adult population. ZEC was supposed to use the final census results. This is because wards and constituencies serve other purposes apart from elections, for instance, distribution of devolution funds and constituency development funds.

5.2 Where the factor of community of interest between registered voters was not considered, the Committee recommends that ZEC should revisit the factor and ensure that this is taken into consideration.

5.3 ZEC should ensure that there is equal number of voters in constituencies or wards as provided for in terms of Section 161 (3) and (4) of the Constitution. Where there was a departure from the permissible variance of lower and upper limit of 20%, ZEC should rectify and ensure that it remains within the allowable variance. When we met ZEC, they indicated that they were going to make those changes should they come from Parliament. They are amenable to making such changes.

5.4       Where collapsing of constituencies that had more voters was done to give in to those that had fewer voters, it is the Committee’s considered view that ZEC should use the same principle of maintaining those with more votes and collapse those with fewer voters.

6.0     CONCLUSION

The Committee’s findings, in its analysis of the 2022 Preliminary Delimitation Report, provide a basis for its conclusion on the 2022 preliminary report on the delimitation exercise. While the Committee appreciates that it is not possible for ZEC to meet the expectations of all the stakeholders in this exercise, it is the Committee’s considered view that all the issues raised in this Report, particularly those that are inconsistent with provisions of section 161 of the Constitution, will be resolved before the finalisation of the Report on the delimitation exercise. As espoused in section 119 of the Constitution, Parliament has an obligation to protect the Constitution and ensure that the State and all institutions and agencies of Government at every level, act constitutionally and in the national interest.

(361 VIEWS)