constituencies and electoral divisions has to be conducted openly and with consultation. ZEC must also gazette a notice of its intention to review or fix electoral boundaries, in a manner that ZEC deems appropriate.30 As far as possible ZEC must entertain representations from voters, political parties and other interested persons and bodies likely to be affected by decisions made by the Commission.31 The provisions facilitating consultation are in line with the principle of transparency, however the fact that ZEC is not obliged to take into consideration such representations defeats the purpose of these provisions. The Electoral Act still provides that the President has to notify ZEC of the date on which they must commence the determination of limits of wards and constituencies.32 In terms of section 37B of the Act, the President must also consult ZEC and fix dates in such a way that there is adequate time to prepare a final report in terms of section 100J of the [old] Constitution. This exercise enables ZEC to fix the election centres. These provisions were drafted in terms of the old Constitution, but now violate provisions of the current Constitution on the independence and impartiality of ZEC. The current Constitution also no longer requires the President to give dates of when ZEC is to determine electoral boundaries. Section 37B, applying section 100J of the old Constitution, was introduced by the Electoral Amendment Bill of 2011, and is clearly now outdated and ultra vires the Constitution. The legal framework does not address the issue of non-discrimination of minority groups in the delimitation of constituencies. The Constitution has general non-discrimination clauses in the bill of rights that apply to everyone. Although the Electoral Act elaborates on the nitty-gritties of mapping, constituencies and wards for elections, the provisions have not yet been fully aligned with the Constitution. While these two documents contain provisions that seek to advance the five principles highlighted in section 3, there is still an opportunity to enhance these provisions to enable the delimitation process to be transparent, efficient, effective and independent. 30 Section 37A(1) of Electoral Act. Section 37A(2) of Electoral Act. 32 Section 37B of Electoral Act. 31 14 | P a g e