The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has said it is moving ahead with filling proportional representation (PR) vacant seats which arose after the Thokozani Khupe-led MDC-T expelled several MDC Alliance MPs linked to Nelson Chamisa from Parliament.<\/p>\n
In a statement, ZEC Chief Elections Officer Utoile Silaigwana said the Commission is bound to follow the provisions of the Electoral Act to fill in the PR vacancies unless a court order expressly enjoins it to refrain from doing so.<\/p>\n
Silaigwana said the Commission has received no such order from the court and must thus pursue its mandate as per the dictates of the law.<\/p>\n
He added that the filling of proportional representation seats has been taken noting that the process will not violate regulations put in place by Government to curb the spread of COVID-19. Silaigwana concluded:<\/p>\n
All other electoral activities which involve gathering of people with the potential to fuel the spread of COVID-19, however, remain suspended.<\/p>\n
This position will remain in place until the operationalisation of the ZEC COVID-19 Policy on Elections which sets out measures on conducting elections without posing a danger to public health.<\/p>\n
Over 20 MDC Alliance parliamentarians were expelled from Parliament by the MDC-T using a controversial March Supreme Court ruling which nullified Nelson Chamisa\u2019s elevation to the party presidency following the death of Morgan Tsvangirai in 2018.<\/p>\n
The senators who were expelled include Siphiwe Ncube, Gideon Shoko, Helen Zivira, Keresencia Chabuka, Tapfumaneyi Wunganayi, Herbert Sinampande, Meliwe Phuti and Lilian Timveous.<\/p>\n
In the National Assembly, the MDC-T expelled Thabitha Khumalo, Virginia Zengeya, Anna Myambo, Bacillia Majaya, Machirarwa Mugidho, Francisca Ncube and Nomathemba Ndlovu.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has said it is moving ahead with filling proportional representation (PR) vacant seats which arose after the Thokozani Khupe-led MDC-T expelled several MDC Alliance MPs linked to Nelson Chamisa from Parliament. In a statement, ZEC Chief Elections Officer Utoile Silaigwana said the Commission is bound to follow the provisions of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":26578,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,10],"tags":[1388,88,351],"class_list":{"0":"post-26575","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-parties","9":"tag-covid-19","10":"tag-mdc","11":"tag-zec"},"yoast_head":"\n