In Zimbabwe, Zanu-PF won the parliamentary by-elections handily and now has a two-thirds majority in Parliament. This majority would allow him to modify the Constitution to allow President Emmerson Mnangagwa to run again, civil society warns.
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Zanu-PF won the six elections held on Saturday February 3 after the dismissal of six opposition deputies, a maneuver denounced by the latter. Last month, the leader of the Coalition of Citizens for Change, the main opposition party, resigned, accusing the ruling party of having infiltrated his movement and orchestrated the dismissal of his deputies.
This is the second time that the country has organized partial legislative elections since the general elections last August, after which the ruling party was ten seats short of winning a two-thirds majority.
So it’s done. Parliament, controlled by the president’s party Emerson Mnangagwa, now has a free hand to revise the country’s laws, observers warn, and in particular to modify the Constitution which would allow the head of state to extend his reign by removing the limit of two presidential mandates.