Harare — President Emmerson Mnangagwa has gazetted the constituency Delimitation Report by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), setting the stage for crunch elections expected later this year

In an extraordinary government gazette of Monday February 20, 2023, Mnangagwa declared;

"Now, therefore, under and by the virtue of the powers invested in the President, l do by this my Proclamation declare the names and boundaries of the wards and he House of Assembly and Senatorial Constituencies as finally determined by the Commission, which names boundaries are set out in the schedule to this Proclamation, to the wards and National Assembly and the Senatorial Constituencies of Zimbabwe for the purposes of the forthcoming and any subsequent general election."

Carried out once every ten years and following a census, Delimitation is the process of dividing the country into constituencies and wards for purposes of elections to constituency seats in the National Assembly and of councillors to local authorities. The process is carried out in terms of sections 160 and 161 of the new Constitution.

The latest report by ZEC drew bi-partisan condemnation by both the ruling Zanu PF party and the opposition.

Some members of the electoral commission had also dissociated from the preliminary report and it remains unclear whether the electoral body eventually achieved consensus over the final report.

Parliament and the President submitted their comments and reservations to the commission chair Justice Priscilla Chigumba for consideration.

According to the Constitution, "where a preliminary delimitation report has been referred back to it under subsection(8), the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission must give further consideration to the matter or issue concerned, but the Commission's decision on it is final."