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ELECTORAL AMENDMENT BILL H.B. 11, 2022
ELECTORAL AMENDMENT BILL, 2022
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Memorandum
This Bill seeks to amend certain sections of the Electoral Act [Chapter 2:13] (No.
25 of 2004) to complete the alignment of certain provisions of that Act with the new
Constitution as amended earlier this year.
Clause 1
This clause sets out the Bill’s short title.
Clauses 2 and 3
This clause amends the definition section (section 4) of the Electoral Act by
removing a driver’s licence as one of the documents to be used as proof of identity for
electoral purposes. Some driver’s licences do not reflect citizenry on the face of them.
In terms of the Constitution of Zimbabwe, one has to be a citizen in order to qualify as
a voter. Accordingly, only valid passport or national identity will be required as proof
of identity. This clause also includes a definition of the phrase “disqualifying offence”.
An offence of this nature is one for which a Member of Parliament is presently under
the Constitution (section 129(1)(i)) required to vacate his or her seat. For the sake of
consistency, it is proposed that persons who would be disqualified from continuing as
MPs for committing such an offence should not also be allowed to stand as candidates
for election.
Clauses 6 and 9
Guided by the principle that offenders who would be disqualified from continuing
to sit in Parliament should not be admitted into Parliament, this clause will require
every candidate to make a solemn declaration in a nomination form or by means of an
attached affidavit, that he or she is not a convicted of a disqualifying offence (or has
received a pardon for such offence).
Clauses 8 and 10
While the law is clear on the timeframe regarding withdrawal of candidature for
a presidential election, it is however silent with regards to parliamentary and local
authority elections. Section 107(1) of the Electoral Act provides that a presidential
candidate can withdraw his or her candidature twenty-one (21) days before polling.
In order to afford sufficient time for ZEC to make changes to the design of the ballot
and to advise the electorate of any changes to the candidature of that election, these
clauses seek to amend sections 49 and 126 of the Electoral Act so that they are aligned
to section 107(1) of the principal Act.
Clauses 3, 4, 5, 6 and 11
The Constitution provides for the 30% female quota in respect of Councillors
for local authorities and for there to be one youth elected to the National Assembly by
indirect proportional representation for each province . To comply with the Constitution
and the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development of 2008, these clauses seek to
amend the appropriate sections of the Electoral Act accordingly.