Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi has defended proposals to have Zimbabwe’s President elected by Parliament, arguing that the system would strengthen political stability and is consistent with both the country’s constitutional history and practices in other democracies.
Debating the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 3) Bill in the National Assembly on Tuesday, Ziyambi said the provision had generated the most controversy during consultations and parliamentary debate.
He said 182 Members of Parliament made substantive contributions to the Bill, with 111 supporting it in full, 31 expressing conditional support with reservations, 10 raising issues without taking a firm position, and 30 opposing it entirely.
“The election of the President through Parliament and the length of the national electoral cycle were the core amendments that drew the heaviest debate,” he said.
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Under the proposed changes, the President would be elected by Members of Parliament rather than through direct universal suffrage.
Ziyambi said the model was not new to Zimbabwe, arguing that the country had previously used similar arrangements.
“I want to thank Hon. Matema for opening that debate with the reminder that this is not foreign terrain for Zimbabwe because Parliament elected the President and the then Prime Minister in this country before 1990,” he said.
The minister said the reforms were aimed at addressing what he described as “five afflictions” of the current electoral system, including repeated disputes over presidential elections, political violence, policy instability, corruption and polarisation.
He argued that Zimbabwe’s direct presidential election system, introduced in 1990, had contributed to a cycle of instability.
Addressing concerns that the Bill would remove citizens’ right to choose the Head of State, Ziyambi insisted that universal suffrage would remain intact.
“Nothing, and I repeat, nothing in this Bill touches the right of every adult Zimbabwean to vote. Not one citizen loses a ballot,” he said.
He said the President would still derive legitimacy from the electorate, as Members of Parliament are themselves directly elected by voters.
“The people who elect the electors produce a representative outcome that ensures peace, stability, unity and development,” he said.
Ziyambi also pointed to other countries that use indirect systems of electing heads of government, citing South Africa and Botswana among examples of parliamentary-based or party-led selection models.
He said such systems were used by 53 countries globally, including what he described as some of the “most stable and enduring parliamentary democracies”.
“These nations did not come by the people’s voices cheaply; they bled for it,” he said.
Opposition MPs challenged the proposal during debate, prompting several points of order. Speaker of the National Assembly Jacob Mudenda repeatedly intervened, directing members to rely on the official Hansard record.
The Bill has triggered intense debate in Parliament, with critics warning that the proposed shift from direct presidential elections to an electoral college system could weaken direct citizen participation in choosing the Head of State.
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