President Emmerson Mnangagwa has proclaimed March 26 as the date for parliamentary by-elections to fill 28 vacancies caused by the death of lawmakers and the recalling of others by a splinter Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) faction led by Douglas Mwonzora.
In a statutory instrument published on Thursday, Mnangagwa also announced that the Nomination Court would sit on January 26.
Mnangagwa had previously resisted pressure to hold the by-elections, citing the COVID-19 pandemic.
Most of the seats fell vacant after Mwonzora’s faction won a 2020 court battle in which he challenged the ascendancy to power of Nelson Chamisa following the death of MDC founding leader Morgan Tsvangirai in 2019.
Chamisa, whose faction contested the 2018 general elections under the MDC-Alliance banner, narrowly lost the presidential polls to Mnangagwa four years ago while his party secured 88 of the 270 contested parliamentary seats.
Mwonzora’s faction, which contested under the MDC-T banner, dismally performed in the polls, managing to win only one seat.
However, with help from the courts and the ruling ZANU PF, the MDC-T has interestingly claimed that all seats won by the MDC-Alliance belong to it and has recalled any lawmaker belonging to the latter who refused to recognise Mwonzora as party leader.
This saw more than 20 MDC-Alliance parliamentarians being recalled from parliament over the past two years.
JN/APA