Zimbabwean president declares new constituencies ahead 2023 elections

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa has gazetted the delimitation report presented to him by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), which sets new boundaries for constituencies.

The wards for the 2023 harmonised elections would be due sometime in July or August.

Government spokesperson Nick Mangwana said on Tuesday via the social media platform Twitter that the new delimitated constituencies and wards have been gazetted.

The gazetting paved the way for Mnangagwa to proclaim election dates using the new delimitation report, which was presented to him by ZEC Chairperson Priscilla Chigumba.

Delimitations are held every 10 years following a national population census so that citizens are fitted into the country’s 210 parliamentary constituencies.

While the local authority areas are divided into wards depending on the number of councillors to be elected.

Chigumba first presented ZEC’s preliminary delimitation report to Mnangagwa on Dec. 26, 2022, following which the president presented it to parliament for consideration.

Parliament then submitted the report to Mnangagwa, giving its opinions on some aspects of the report that it wanted to be addressed.

Mnangagwa also gave his opinions on the report.

The ZEC considered both opinions before it resubmitted a revised report to the president for gazetting.