Zim govt to amend contentious electoral law – report

29th March 2018 By: News24Wire

Zim govt to amend contentious electoral law – report

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa

Zimbabwe's justice minister has reportedly said that the country's "contentious electoral law" would likely be amended next month.

According to NewsDay, Ziyambi Ziyambi told a local radio station during a heated debate with People's Democratic Party (PDP) spokesperson Jacob Mafume that the amendments were to be tabled and rectified by Parliament in April.

The justice minister was, however, not specific about the amendment finalisation time frame but said he expected the process to be finished within two weeks.

"I said, in Parliament, that I want members to contribute. We were supposed to go on recess until May, but we have decided against that in order to deal with this issue and they are coming back on April 10. We made this decision because we were mindful of the fact that we are going into an election.

"Our target is that we should be able to finish this within two weeks of resumption of Parliament sitting, but I have to qualify this and say I do not control the process," Ziyambi was quoted as saying.

The southern African country is expected to hold a crunch election in July.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa vowed to hold fair elections to ensure Zimbabwe "engages the world as a qualified democratic state", according to the state-owned Herald newspaper.

Under ex-president Robert Mugabe, who had ruled since 1980, Zimbabwean elections were marred by vote rigging, intimidation and violent suppression of the opposition.

Mnangagwa was one of Mugabe's closest allies in the ruling Zanu-PF party, and he is accused of playing a key role in the authoritarian regime that left the economy in ruins.

Mugabe, 94, was forced to quit when the military took power and once-loyal Zanu-PF lawmakers launched impeachment proceedings against him.