Zimbabweans were expected to vote for a new constitution yesterday that would clip presidential powers and pave the way for an election to decide whether Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe extends his three-decade rule.
Mugabe, Africa’s oldest president at 89, has ruled the former British colony since independence in 1980 and has been accused of carrying out harsh crackdowns on the opposition and weakening state institutions like the Cabinet and parliament.
The new constitution would set a maximum of two five-year terms for the president, starting with the next election, expected in the second half of this year. However, the limit will not apply retroactively, so Mugabe could rule for another two terms.
Photo: AFP
Presidential decrees will also require majority backing in the Cabinet and declarations of emergency rule or dissolutions of parliament will need the approval of two-thirds of lawmakers.
“This constitution is a symbol of transformation and is a loud announcement of the advent of a new dispensation. I will vote yes,” Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said in a statement on the eve of the referendum.
Former opposition leader Tsvangirai went into government with Mugabe after a violent and disputed vote in 2008.
He made the referendum on the new constitution a condition of the power-sharing deal and said there would be no point in holding new elections without it.
Both parties back the constitution, making yesterday’s vote almost a rubber stamp exercise. Turnout is expected to be low. In Mbare, the oldest township in the capital that has witnessed clashes between supporters of Mugabe’s ZANU-PF and Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in the past, more than 100 people filed patiently into a polling station.
“It is a good constitution because now a president can rule for 10 years at the most,” Douglas Muchena said after voting at a polling station in Avondale, just outside central Harare.
The run-up to the referendum was peaceful. Analysts say they are more worried about presidential and parliamentary elections later this year, where ZANU-PF is expected to face a stiff challenge from the MDC, although there are no reliable polls.
The period preceding previous elections since 2000 has been marred by violence, and the MDC says hundreds of its members have been killed at the hands of Mugabe’s youth brigades and independent war veterans supporters.
Tsvangirai defeated Mugabe in March 2008, but not by enough votes to avoid a second round of voting.
The former trade union leader was forced to quit the run-off race after a campaign of violence by Mugabe’s supporters, but regional leaders intervened to force the two rivals to form a coalition government.
Although fragile and at times acrimonious, the unity government has eased political tensions and helped stabilize an economy that shrank 40 percent between 2000 and 2010.
Mugabe wants to continue with his nationalist policies, like seizing white-owned commercial farms and taking majority shares in foreign-owned firms.
The MDC says if it wins it will revive a once-vibrant economy, attract foreign investment and reduce one of the world’s highest jobless rates of 80 percent.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed