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Zimbabwe: President Mugabe announces March 16 as Referendum date on new constitution
Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe (pictured) has issued an official proclamation on Friday setting March 16 as the date for the nation to vote on a new constitution ahead of national elections later this year.
A government notice formally published on Friday leaves a calendar month for distribution of the 160-page draft document and campaigning for a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ vote.
Friday’s notice said polling stations will be opened for 12 hours countrywide at 7 a.m. (0500 GMT) on March 16, which is a Saturday.
The draft constitution was completed on February 6 after three years of disputes, bickering and constant delays and funding shortages. Democratic reforms to the constitution were a key demand of regional mediators after the disputed elections in 2008.
About 90,000 copies of the draft are being printed for distribution starting Monday.
Zimbabwe has nearly 6 million registered voters out of a population of 13 million.
Mugabe’s proclamation comes a day after the independent head of the state election commission resigned on grounds of failing health. The commission is in charge of overseeing all voting. Several lengthy formalities are required for its chairman, Judge Simpson Mutambanengwe, to be replaced. His deputy Joyce Kazembe, has been acting for the elderly judge in his recent absences.
Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s former opposition party, in a shaky coalition with Mugabe, has called for the suspension of sweeping security laws in the run-up to vote on the constitution. Under those laws, police clearance is required for political gatherings. Party leaders say they need to explain the often obtuse legal language of the draft constitution.
Suspension or repeal of the draconian Public Order and Security Act, used to entrench the arrest and detention powers of loyalist police and military in a decade of political and economic turmoil, is opposed by Mugabe’s hardliners.
Mugabe’s announcement Friday did not take into account requests by Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change party for the referendum poll to be carried over to a second day.
All the country’s political leaders have called for a referendum ‘Yes’ vote to allow the constitution to be accepted and signed into law by Mugabe without any further changes.
An estimated US$200 million is required to pay for the referendum and the parliamentary and presidential elections, possibly three months later this year.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press