The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has called upon Parliament to urgently institute the separation of constituency boundary lines from the National Census.
The commission intends to have changes in settlement patterns accommodated in the 2023 elections.
Calls for electoral reforms have intensified lately with the opposition MDC calling for the disbandment of the current ZEC team which it says is pro the ruling ZANU PF party.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe targets to complete the electoral law reform process before the lapse of the First Session of the Ninth Parliament as the country lays the foundation for the 2023 harmonised elections.
Speaking to stakeholders at a conference held in Kadoma over the weekend, ZEC chairperson, Justice Priscilla Chigumba, said that there have been several changes in settlement patterns since the last delimitation. She said:
The last delimitation exercise was done in 2008, since then several changes have taken place in our law and in settlement patterns. The 2013 Constitution linked delimitation to the National Census and also there has been rapid urban expansion which may affect existing boundaries.
Justice Chigumba also highlighted that several communities including in Mwenezi and Manicalanda where people were displaced by the Tokwe-Mukosi dam floods and cyclone Idai respectively. She also noted that some totally new areas, for example, in Harare South had emerged. Chigumba added:
We also have a situation where some locations are ordinarily seen as belonging to Harare, but are in fact in other provinces, for example Mt Pleasant Heights which is in Mazowe District. All these point to the need for delimitation.
More: The Herald
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