The Movement for Democratic Change formation led by Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC- Renweal Team have announced that they will boycott by-elections in two constituencies left vacant by former Vice President Joice Mujuru and current Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
President Robert Mugabe proclaimed in a notice published in an extraordinary government gazette that eligible voters in Mount Darwin West and Chirumanzu-Zibagwe constituencies would go to the polls to elect new national assembly representatives on March 27th .
The by-election for the Mount Darwin West constituency was long overdue and comes in the wake of allegations by legal experts that Mr. Mugabe had violated the Zimbabwean constitution by failing to order a by-election within 90 days of Mujuru’s appointment more than 18 months ago.
The president proclaimed that: “I do by this proclamation order new elections for the constituencies of Mount Darwin West and Chirumanzu-Zibagwe, fix Friday 27th, March 2015 as the day in which a poll shall be taken if a poll becomes necessary in terms of section 46 (17) (c) of the Electoral Act.”
MDC-T spokesman Obert Gutu said his party will not participate in elections whose outcome is pre-determined.
But spokesman Nhlanhla Dube of the MDC formation led by Professor Welshman Ncube said they have a standing resolution to participate in all elections unless the party decides otherwise.
Legal expert professor Lovemore Madhuku said Mr. Mugabe is misleading himself by declaring Mrs. Mujuru’s seat vacant.
Blessing Zulu also reached lawyer and Zanu-PF politburo member Munyaradzi Paul Mangwana, who is also one of the architects of the new constitution.
