Zim suspends by- elections indefinitely due to Covid-19

Harare (New Ziana)-Zimbabwe on Saturday announced an indefinite suspension of the holding of parliamentary and municipal elections, owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.

This was done through Statutory Instrument 225A of 2020 which amended Covid-19 regulations.

This amendment comes at a time when the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission lifted the suspension of electoral activities after it adopted a Covid-19 policy on electoral activities which outlines how by-elections and other electoral activities will be conducted without exposing those involved to health risks.

ZEC suspended all electoral activities in June this year as part of measures to curb the spread of Covid-19.

The electoral body had scheduled the by-elections to be held on December 5 2020.

Nomination court was supposed to sit on 9 October 2020 for the by- elections nominations to fill the vacancies left by MPs and councillors who were recalled by Thokozani Khupe’s MDC T faction.

The MDC-T has caused the recalls of 31 MDC Alliance MPs and senators, and 45 councillors including four mayors while other vacancies arose following the death of incumbents.

According to the S.I, the Minister of Health in terms of section 68 of the Public Health Act, made the amendments to the Covid-19 regulations.

“The Public Health (Covid-19 Prevention, Containment and Treatment) Regulations 2020 have been amended to say that “the holding of any by-election to fill a casual vacancy in parliament or in a local authority is, for the duration of the period of declaration of Covid-19 as a formidable epidemic disease, suspended and if such a vacancy occurred while such declaration is in force, no part of the period from the date of such vacancy to the date of the end of the declaration shall be counted for the purposes of section 158 (3) of the Constitution” said the S.I.

New Ziana