HARARE – Speaker of the National Assembly Jacob Mudenda said on Sunday that the Zimbabwe constitution should be amended to allow people in the diaspora to vote.
Mudenda was addressing legislators and other stakeholders at a workshop on the Electoral Amendment Bill, which was sponsored by the Southern African Parliamentary Support Trust and the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (Zesn) in Kariba.
“Zec should be empowered through the Electoral Act to censure, or even disqualify political parties or candidates that act with impunity during the electoral processes. It is necessary to amend the constitution to include the diaspora vote,” said Mudenda.
Mudenda becomes the first senior official in the ruling Zanu PF party to push that agenda.
He said Amendments to the Electoral Act should clearly specify the procedures and mechanisms for registration and voting for citizens in the diaspora.
Mudenda also said political parties and candidates who perpetrated electoral violence should be disqualified through amendments to the Electoral Act.
He believes the amendments should empower the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to censure errant political parties and politicians.
He also pointed out that the future of the country’s elections depended on the role political parties played in promoting peaceful and credible elections by sending the right signals and urging their supporters to shun electoral violence.
The push for diaspora vote by the ruling party comes as a surprise with the regime being on record dismissing the idea as unrealistic.
Last year, then Zanu PF acting spokesperson Patrick Chinamasa said the diaspora vote was impossible because the party will not be able to campaign in countries which imposed sanctions on its officials.
