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Draft Coalition Agreement
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
April 01, 2007

As agreed by the negotiating teams of the two formations in April 2007.

Tsvangirai negotiating team: T Biti, I Gonese, E. Cross, J Majome
Mutambara negotiating team: W Ncube, PT Nyathi, P Misihairabwi, D Coltart

Preamble

Recognising that the differences which have arisen within the MDC must be put aside and that the two MDC formations should work together in the national interest;

Believing that meaningful change in Zimbabwe can come only through democratic, free and fair elections in which every Zimbabwean citizen has a vote and a reasonable opportunity to exercise that vote;

Appreciating the strong national sentiment for unity of purpose in confronting the dictatorial governmental structures within Zimbabwe;

Realising that active co-operation between the two MDC formations will greatly enhance the prospects of successfully contesting elections:

Now therefore the two formations enter into this Coalition Agreement:-

Preliminary

1. Interpretation

(1) In this Agreement, the following terms have the following meanings¾

"Coalition" means the coalition formed by the two MDC formations in terms of clause 4, acting where appropriate through the structures established under this Agreement;

"Coalition structure" means a structure established in terms of clause 6, 7, 8 or 9;

"MDC formation" or "formation" means the formation led by Morgan Tsvangirai and the formation led by Arthur Mutambara respectively.

(2) References to clauses and subclauses are to the clauses and subclauses of this Agreement.

2. Mutual recognition

Each MDC formation fully accepts the independence and equality of the other formation.

3. Co-operation between formations

The MDC formations agree that the principles enunciated in this Agreement provide a sound foundation for future co-operation between the two formations, and that these principles also constitute a sound basis for dealing with broader national issues.

Formation of coalition, Values, Principles, Goals and objectives

4. Formation of Coalition

(1) The MDC formations hereby agree to form a Coalition to be known as the Movement for Democratic Change Coalition.

(2) The MDC Coalition will be bound by and strive for the fulfilment of the values and principles set out in clause 5.

(3) The MDC Coalition will strive to achieve the goals and objectives set out in clause 6.

5. Values and Principles

(1) The MDC Coalition will at all times be bound by the following general principles and values:

a) respect for the equality of all persons without regard to race, ethnicity, gender, language, religion, political opinion and place of birth or origin;

b) respect for the inherent dignity of each and every person and in particular the right to life and bodily safety;

c) respect for human rights and in particular freedom of expression, assembly, movement and the right to liberty and protection of the law;

d) respect for democratic principles and democratic discourse;

e) adherence to the principle of non-violence in the conduct of all political activity, including interaction between the two formations;

f) the pursuit of meaningful political change in Zimbabwe through democratic, peaceful, free and fair elections.

6. Goals and objectives of Coalition

The MDC formations commit themselves to working together and supporting each other in the Coalition, in accordance with its values and principles, to achieve the following goals and objectives through the use of non-violent, legitimate means¾

(a) the replacement of tyrannical governmental and political structures in Zimbabwe by a new democratic order which creates a non-racist, non-tribalist, non-sexist and tolerant society which respects equally and fairly different ethnic, religious, cultural and political groups;

(b) the formulation, adoption and implementation of a new democratic constitution which has been agreed to through an inclusive and transparent process involving all the main political and civil society organisations in Zimbabwe;

(c) the formulation, adoption and implementation of a new electoral order in Zimbabwe which complies with democratic principles and international electoral standards.

Structures of Coalition

7. National Coalition Council

(1) The MDC formations agree to establish forthwith a National Coalition Council composed of the national executive committee of each formation.

(2) Meetings of the National Coalition Council will be chaired on an alternate basis by the National Chairpersons of each formation.

(3) The National Coalition Council must meet at least twice a year.

(4) Meetings of the National Coalition Council will be called or convened at the request of the Coalition Executive Committee.

(5) The National Coalition Council will have power and authority, in furtherance of the Coalition's objectives¾

(a) to give broad policy direction to the Coalition structures; and

(b) to assign or delegate functions to Coalition structures to enable them fully to implement this Agreement.

8. Coalition Executive Committee

(1) There will be a committee of the National Coalition Council, to be known as the Coalition Executive Committee consisting of the following persons from the formations¾

(a) the Presidents and the Vice Presidents;

(b) the National Chairpersons and Vice-National Chairpersons;

(c) the Secretary-Generals and the Vice Secretary-Generals;

(d) the Treasurer-Generals and Vice-Treasurer Generals;

(f) the National Directors of Elections.

(2) The Coalition Executive Committee will be responsible for devising effective joint political strategies, including strategies in relation to elections, to further the objectives of the Coalition.

(3) The President of each formation will preside as chairperson at alternate meetings of the Coalition Executive Committee, and will be regarded as chairperson of the committee from the commencement of the meeting at which he or she presides until immediately before the commencement of the next meeting.

(4) The Coalition Executive Committee may give directions to the Coalition Task Force regarding the implementation of strategies it has devised.

(5) The Coalition Executive Committee, through its chairperson, must keep the National Coalition Council regularly informed of its decisions and their implementation.

9. Coalition Task Force

(1) There will be a committee of the National Coalition Executive Committee to be known as the Coalition Task Force and consisting of the following persons from the formations¾

(a) the Secretary-Generals and Deputy Secretary-Generals;

(b) the Treasurer-Generals and Deputy Treasurer-Generals;

(c) the National Directors of Elections;

(d) the National Organising Secretaries;

(e) the Information and Publicity Secretaries; .

(f) the National Chairpersons of the Women's and Youth Assemblies and

(g) the Women and Youth Secretary-Generals or National Secretaries.

(2) The Coalition Task Force will be responsible for¾

(a) effectively implementing the policies and strategies of the Coalition; and

(b) fund raising to support Coalition activities, including voter education and the organisation of MDC election campaigns.

(3) In consultation with each other, the Secretaries-General of the formations will be responsible for setting up a secretariat to support the work of the Coalition Executive Committee.

(4) The publicity functions relating to the Coalition's activities will be performed by jointly by the Secretaries-General of the formations.

10. Provincial, district and ward structures

(1) There will be Coalition Task Forces at Provincial, District and Ward levels which will consist at each level of the following persons from the formations:

(a) Chairpersons;

(b) Secretaries;

(c) Treasurers;

(d) Organising Secretaries;

(e) Election Directors;

(f) Information and Publicity Secretaries; and

(g) Chairpersons for Women and Youth.

(3) If the boundaries of a province, district or ward, as recognised by one formation, differ from the boundaries recognised by the other formation, the Coalition Task Force will determine which boundaries should be recognised for the purpose of this Agreement.

(4) The functions of the Coalition Committees will be to ensure that this Agreement, and the policies and strategies devised by the National Coalition Council and the Coalition Executive Committee, are fully implemented within their respective provinces, districts and wards.

11. Convening of meetings of Coalition structures

(1) Coalition structures, in consultation with each other, will meet at such times and places as they may decide from time to time.

(2) The chairperson of a Coalition structure¾

(a) may convene a special meeting of the structure at any time;

(b) must convene a special meeting of the structure on the written request of not fewer than of one-third of its members, which meeting must be convened for a date not sooner than seven days and not later than thirty days after the chairperson's receipt of the request.

(3) No business may be discussed at a special meeting convened in terms of paragraph (b) of subclause (2) except the business specified in the request for the meeting.

(4) The Secretary-Generals must ensure that every member of the structure is given at least forty-eight hours' notice of every meeting of the structure, and the notice must specify the business to be transacted at the meeting:

Provided that where it is urgently necessary to do so, a Coalition structure may hold a special meeting even if its members have been given less than forty-eight hours' notice of the meeting, but the reasons for doing so must be fully recorded in the minutes of the meeting;

12. Procedure at meetings of Coalition structures

(1) If for any reason the chairperson of a Coalition structure is not present within fifteen minutes after a meeting of the structure was due to commence, the other joint chairperson will chair the meeting, and if that other chairperson is also absent for any reason, the members present must elect one of their number to preside at the meeting as acting chairperson.

(2) A majority of the total membership of a Coalition structure will form a quorum at any meeting of the structure.

(3) Decisions of Coalition structures must be reached on the basis of consensus, and if a structure is unable to reach consensus on any issue, the issue must be referred to a higher structure for decision.

(4) Subject to this clause, the procedure to be adopted at meetings of a Coalition structure is to be determined by the structure itself, except where a higher structure has specified the procedure to be adopted.

Selection of Candidates

13. Presidential elections

(1) The MDC formations agree that if the Coalition decides to contest the next Presidential election, the Coalition will put forward a single candidate to contest it, and that candidate will be chosen by the formation led by Morgan Tsvangirai.

(2) If the candidate referred to in subclause (1) wins the Presidential election, he or she will appoint as one of the Vice-President a person nominated by the formation led by Arthur Mutambara.

14. Elections to the House of Assembly

(1) If the Coalition decides to contest the next general election on the basis of the current constitutional provisions (that is one hundred and twenty elected seats), the question of which formation should put forward a candidate to contest a seat will be decided as follows¾

(a) where a member of one of the formations holds a seat, or held it immediately before it became vacant, that formation will put forward a candidate, after consultation with appropriate organs of the other formation, to contest the seat;

(b) where a seat was not held by a member of either formation, each of the formations must, within the prescribed period of time, hold primary election to select a candidate for this seat. An Electoral College with thereafter be established to decide on which of the two candidates will be selected to contest that seat. The Electoral College will consist of 30 persons from each of the formations. The Electoral College may, as part of the process of selection, interview each of the candidates. In the event that the Electoral College is unable to reach a consensus on which of the two candidates to select, the matter will be referred to the Coalition Executive Committee. The Coalition Executive Committee will, by consensus, decide which of the two candidates to select. Its decision will be final and binding.

(c) in selecting candidates for the next general election in respect of whom clause 14(1)(b) applies the Coalition must ensure that each formation will have fifty per cent of the candidates.

(2) If a by-election for a seat in the House of Assembly is to be held before the next general election, the decision to contest it will be reached by the Coalition after a process of consultation, and if it is decided to contest the seat, the allocation of the seat between the formations will be determined in accordance with subclause (1).

(3) In the selection of candidates for a general election, the Coalition must try to ensure that 50 per cent of the chosen candidates for seats in the House of Assembly are women, but if that target is not possible it must ensure that at least 30 per cent of the candidates are women.

15. Elections to the Senate

(1) If the Coalition decides to contest the next general election on the basis of the current constitutional provisions (that is fifty elected seats), each formation will be allocated fifty per cent of the Senate seats available.

(2) In the selection of candidates for a general election, the Coalition must ensure that 50 per cent of the chosen candidates for seats in the Senate are women.

16. Local authority elections

(1) If the Coalition decides to contest a local authority election, the question of which formation should put forward a candidate to contest a seat will be decided as follows¾

(a) where a member of one of the formations holds a seat, or held it immediately before it became vacant, that formation will put forward a candidate, after consultation with appropriate organs of the other formation, to contest the seat;

(b) where a seat was not held by a member of either formation, the Coalition will agree upon an equitable formula for deciding which formation should put forward a candidate to contest the seat, taking into account such considerations as the prospect of winning the seat in question. The formation which is allocated the seat will put forward a candidate, after consultation with the appropriate organs of the other formation, to contest the seat.

(3) In the selection of candidates for local authority elections, the Coalition must try to ensure that 50 per cent of the chosen candidates are women but if that target is not possible it must ensure that at least 30 per cent of the candidates are women.

17. Changes to structure of parliament or electoral system

In the event that before the next election:

(a) there are changes to the law relating to the structure of parliament so as to increase the number of seats in the House of Assembly or Senate; and/or

(b) there are changes to the electoral system so as to introduce a system of proportional representation based on a party list system;

the Coalition Executive Committee must meet to devise upon an equitable formula for the distribution of seats that is consistent with the principles set out in this agreement. The Coalition Executive Committee will transmit this formula to the National Coalition Council for its approval.

Post-Election Procedures

18. Allocation of Government posts by President

(1) Subject to the Constitution, if the Coalition wins the presidential and parliamentary elections, the President will allocate Cabinet posts in consultation with the Vice President and the National Executive Council, taking into account the need for equitable distribution of posts between the two formations, regard being had to the importance of those posts:

Provided that the President may allocate not more than three of the Cabinet posts in his or her sole discretion.

(2) Subject to the Constitution and any other law, the President will make appointments to other Government offices in consultation with the Vice President and the National Coalition Executive Committee, taking into account the need for equitable distribution of posts between the two formations paying due regard to the principle of equality of the two formations and the need for equal representation.

19. Priorities following election victory

If the Coalition wins the presidential and parliamentary elections and no new national Constitution has been brought into operation, the MDC Government commits itself to making the process of Constitutional reform its main priority, and in this regard it is agreed that¾

(a) the MDC Government will consider itself to be a transitional administration tasked with formulating and implementing a new democratic Constitution after thorough consultation with the people of Zimbabwe;

(b) the constitutional reform process will last no more than two years from the date on which the winning Coalition Presidential candidate takes office, and will culminate in fresh elections conducted in terms of the new Constitution which will be held not later than five years from that date.

20. Failure to win the election

If the Coalition loses the presidential and parliamentary elections, the National Coalition Council will meet to discuss the future of the Coalition.

Miscellaneous Provisions

21. Expenses of Coalition

Any expenses incurred in carrying out this Agreement, or in operating the Coalition structures, will be divided in equal shares between the two formations:

Provided that the Coalition Task Force may decide that any particular expenses will be shared in different proportions or will be borne by one or other of the formations.

22. Changes in Constitution or in electoral procedures

(1) If any amendment to the national Constitution or to the electoral law should render any provisions of this Agreement inappropriate, the National Coalition Council must meet without delay in order to decide what modifications should be made to those provisions in order to meet the changed situation brought about by the constitutional or statutory amendments.

(2) Any modifications agreed upon by the National Coalition Council in terms of subclause (1) will have effect as if they had been incorporated into this Agreement.

23. Further co-operation between formations

The MDC formations undertake to extend the co-operation between them with a view, if possible, to ultimate reconciliation and reunification.

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