The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has cancelled by-elections scheduled for Wards 9 and 11 in Victoria Falls.
This decision comes following the reversal of recalls issued against the elected councillors by the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) party.
Sengezo Tshabangu, the self-proclaimed interim Secretary General of the CCC, withdrew the recall notices.
This left ZEC with no vacant seats to fill, prompting the cancellation of the planned by-elections.
Utloile Silaigwana, ZEC Chief Elections Officer, confirmed the cancellation in an official notice. “The advertised vacancies for the City of Victoria Falls Wards 9, 11 and the party list PR vacancies are no longer in existence following the rescission of the recall of the incumbents by their sponsoring party,” Silaigwana stated.
“Accordingly, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission advises that all electoral processes in relation to the said advertised by-elections have been cancelled with immediate effect”.
In an interview with CITE on Monday outside the Nomination Court in Bulawayo, the ZEC CEO said the commission was notified by the concerned council that a vacancy no longer existed.
“For there to be a by-election, the council writes to the Local Government ministry and ZEC as well informing us about a vacancy. In this instance the council also told us that there was no more vacancy after reversals of the recalls,” Silaigwana said.
Silaigwana added that when ZEC was informed that, the commission in turn informed people that there would be no by-election in the previously stated wards.
“As ZEC we went to the ground in Victoria Falls, as usual through our voter education exercise and told people that there was no by-election there,” he said.
Legal expert Ngqobizitha Ndlovu explained that ZEC has the authority to halt elections upon recall reversals.
“In this context ZEC doesn’t need a court order. The political party is the one which withdraws it’s candidate. If it withdraws it’s candidate, ZEC has no discretion, it just has to follow what the political party says,” Ndlovu clarified.
He further emphasised that ZEC must comply with the sponsoring party’s decision, especially if the reversal occurs before the actual elections.
“Same applies where the political party informs ZEC that the members have been reinstated as long as this is before the elections. So ZEC just takes heed of what the political party says,” Ndlovu added.
