Constitutional Court Mawarire v Mugabe NO & Ors Malaba DCJ The applicant exaggerates the case by saying that the second and fourth respondents want the affairs of the country to be run by the Executive and Judiciary without Parliament for four months. An honest and objective assessment of what the two respondents have said shows that they acknowledge that the President has a discretionary power to fix by proclamation the date of the first elections. They accept that it is in the exercise of his discretion for the President to decide when within the period of four months after the date of the proclamation dissolving Parliament or the date of automatic dissolution of Parliament the first elections are to be held. Zimbabwe is not the only constitutional democracy with a provision of a Constitution allowing for a period in which the affairs of the country can be run by the Executive and Judiciary without Parliament following its dissolution by operation of law at the of its full term. Section 55 of the Malaysian Constitution has already been referred to. Article 16.3 of the Constitution of Ireland provides that after the dissolution of the Dail Eireann (Parliament) a general election for members of Parliament shall take place not later than thirty days after the dissolution. Article 15(2) of the Constitution of Andorra provides that the President has the power to choose a date of an election to fall between the thirtieth or fortieth days following the end of the term of the President. Article 64.3 of the Constitution of Bulgaria provides that the date for an election shall fall within two months from the expiry of the life of Parliament. Article 73(1) of the Constitution of Croatia provides that elections for members of the Croatian Parliament shall be held not later than sixty days after the expiry of the mandate or dissolution of the Croatian Parliament. Even in countries such as Canada where the date of a general election is fixed by legislation the situation the applicant criticises has not been avoided. In terms of the Canada Elections Act a general election is required to take place on 19 October of the end of four years of Parliament. The dissolution of Parliament by proclamation prematurely terminated the life of Parliament. As a result a general election which took place on 2 May 2011 the life of Parliament would end on 2 May 2015. The general election would have to be held five months later on 19 October 2015. It is clear therefore that the principle that there can be a period following automatic dissolution of Parliament when the affairs of a country are run by the Executive and Judiciary is recognised. It is interesting to note that whilst the applicant is concerned about the fate of Parliament he does not seem to be interested in the need to comply with the requirements of the New Constitution designed to ensure that the electorate plays a meaningful role in the electoral process. There is no doubt in my mind that these requirements of the New Constitution are designed to ensure that the first elections are truly a legitimate democratic instrument for the people to choose and control the authorities that will act in their name. Taking into account the importance of the first elections the New Constitution tries to guarantee the democratic character of the decision making on the date of the election. There is no doubt in my mind that these requirements of the New Constitution are designed to ensure that the first elections are truly a legitimate democratic instrument for the people to choose and control the authorities that will act in their name. Taking into account the importance of the elections the New Constitution tries to guarantee the democratic character of the decision making on the date of the election. It appears to me that once it is accepted that the date of the first election can be fixed to take place after 29 June 2013 the whole basis of the applicant's argument collapses. He then 20