Zimbabwe parliament passes new constitution

By Kitsepile Nyathi, The Correspondent.

Harare. Zimbabwe’s parliament on Thursday passed the country’s draft constitution after the ruling party accused its rivals of trying to stall reforms to delay fresh elections.

The new charter will now be taken to the Senate before President Robert Mugabe can append his signature for it to become law.

It was passed by 156 MPs following debate that lasted two days.

The draft needed approval from 140 MPs to get the required two thirds majority.

A referendum was also held in March where 94 per cent of voters backed the new constitution.

Zimbabwe expects to hold new elections sometime this year.

At the weekend President Mugabe threatened to dump the proposed law if his rivals resorted to delaying tactics. “We hope parliament will pass it,” the veteran ruler had told his Zanu PF party. “It is not yet a constitution, but a political draft.”

“If people dilly-daily on it, then we go back to the old constitution,” he said.

“Some people might want to pick their preferred clauses from the draft. However, nothing of that sort is acceptable.

We are not bothered; we will go back to the old constitution. The 89-year-old leader, who wants to run for another term in office, said he would not succumb to international pressure to delay the polls.

Source: http://www.thecitizen.co.tz/News/-/1840360/1848988/-/gntmg7z/-/index.html