By-elections were held in Zimbabwe on 11 November 2023, on 9 December 2023, on 3 February 2024 and on 27 April 2024 to fill vacancies in the National Assembly and in local government.[1][2] The by-elections were triggered by Sengezo Tshabangu, who claimed to be the interim Secretary-General of the Citizens Coalition for Change, when he recalled nine constituency legislators, six proportional representative women’s quota and senators and seventeen councilors mainly from Bulawayo, one of the party's strongholds.[3][4][5][6]
Background
Gutu West Constituency
Due to the death of independent candidate Christopher Mutonhori before the general election on 23 August 2023, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission cancelled the parliamentary election in the Gutu West constituency in terms of Section 50 of the Electoral Act, which stipulates that should a candidate die before the election, the nominations are declared null and void.[7][8] After the general elections, president Emmerson Mnangagwa proclaimed on 22 September 2023 that the by-election would be held on 11 November 2023.[9]
Recall of CCC members
On 3 October 2023, Sengezo Tshabangu, who claimed to be the interim Secretary-General of the Citizens Coalition for Change, recalled 15 members of the National Assembly (9 constituency MPs, 5 women's quota MPs and 1 youth quota MP), 9 senators and 17 councilors mainly from Bulawayo.[10][11][12] The CCC disputed Tshabangu's authority and the CCC president Nelson Chamisa wrote to National Assembly speaker Jacob Mudenda to disregard Tshabangu's letter.[13]
In spite of Chamisa's protests, Mudenda wrote to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission declaring the seats vacant, while the Local Government minister Winston Chitando notified the city councils about the vacant council seats.[14][15] On 20 October 2023, president Mnangagwa proclaimed 9 December 2023 as the date for the by-elections.[16] The Harare High Court rejected the expelled CCC MPs' appeal to be reinstated on 4 November 2023.[17] On 7 November 2023, the Nomination Court sat to receive papers from candidates for the by-elections.[18]
The CCC had been hit hard by double candidacy during the August general election, as Sengezo Tshabangu’s camp fielded its own set of candidates using the same party name.[19][20]
On 7 November 2023, a further letter was sent to the Speaker of Parliament and the President of the Senate by Tshabangu. In this letter, he recalled a further six constituency MPs and 6 Women's Quota MPs, as well as five Senators.[21] Their seats were declared vacant by the Speaker and President respectively on 14 November 2023. On the same day, the High Court ruled that any further recalls could not be acted upon by Parliament until legal challenges had completed. The Speaker, however, determined that the seats had been vacated when the letter was written - i.e. 7 November - and so remained vacant in spite of the Court order on 14 November. [22] President Mnangagwa declared the date for the by-elections of these six constituencies to be 3 February 2024.
At the Nomination Court proceedings, the recalled MPs submitted an application to stand in the by-elections as CCC candidates. While their applications were accepted, meaning that in some constituencies there would be two CCC candidates competing against each other, Tshabangu submitted an application to the High Court to bar the recalled MPs from standing as CCC candidates. On 7 December, just two days before the by-election, the High Court issued an order which barred the recalled MPs from standing as candidates, and further stated that their names should not appear on ballot papers.[24]
Chamisa resignation
Chamisa withdrew from CCC ahead of by-election on 3rd of February 2024.[25] Fadzayi Mahere and other withdrew from Parliament in solidarity with Nelson Chamisa, prompting a by-election in their respective constituencies.
^ abNot all seats in the Zimbabwean Parliament are elected by popular vote. A selection is selected by Proportional Representation, and as such the number of seats after a by-election may be fewer than those being competed, where representatives have been recalled/died.
^On 25 January 2024, Nelson Chamisa announced he was resigning from the CCC with immediate effect. It was not clear on the day of the by-election who the leader of the CCC was.
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