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New Constitution-making process - Index of articles
NCA
against polls delay
The
Standard (Zimbabwe)
April 21, 2013
http://www.thestandard.co.zw/2013/04/21/nca-against-polls-delay/
The National
Constitutional Assembly (NCA) says it will be unconstitutional
to delay polls after the expiry of parliament on June 29, as it
will leave the country at the mercy of the executive without checks
and balances.
In resolutions
passed after the meeting of the NCA’s National Taskforce,
the organisation said: “The NCA condemns attempts by the parties
in government to delay polls because parliament’s
term expires in June and any extension beyond that date is illegal
and unconstitutional.
“It will
be illegal to have the executive running the country without Parliament.”
Zimbabwe is
preparing for the watershed harmonised elections to bring to an
end the life of the inclusive government which is widely viewed
as dysfunctional.
President Robert
Mugabe had indicated that elections should be held on or by June
29.
The two MDC
formations however insist that they should be held once reforms
necessary for the holding of free and fair elections are in place.
Some of the
conditions the two MDCs said are necessary for the holding of credible
elections include security sector and media reforms.
Zanu-PF has
already said that reforming the security sector is a non-starter.
The NCA said
it was “saddened by the double standards exhibited by the
MDC who are complaining about reforms before elections and yet they
agreed to
participate in a referendum in a skewed political environment”.
“As the
NCA we believe that there should be no excuses of reforms because
the referendum was held in such an environment and yet no party
complained,” it said.
NCA is set to
hold a General Assembly before the end of next month to determine
its future. NCA chairperson Lovemore Madhuku has hinted that the
body: would be transformed into a political party.
The NCA, was
one of the bedrocks on which the MDC was formed. The body said it
broke ranks when MDC started enjoying the trappings of power after
the formation of the inclusive
government in 2009.
During the referendum
last month, NCA campaigned unsuccessfully for the “No vote”,
arguing that Zimbabweans had not been given adequate time to read
the draft constitution.
The “Yes”
vote prevailed after 3 079 966 voted in favour of the draft, leaving
NCA to fight another day as only 179 000 voted against the document.
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