4.5 Constitutional content – trends and specifics of institutions There were few surprises on the body of items that covered content expectations of the emerging constitution. Some of the relatively obvious points – given the party-split in the survey – included that the president’s terms should be limited to two (77% agreed or strongly agreed), and that the president should not have the powers to appoint some of the members of parliament. Thus, all members of parliament should be elected (80% agreed or strongly agreed) [Q31, Q32, Q33]. These 2010 findings are strongly corroborated through the fact that there is a high degree of consistency in the findings on the six constitution content-questions between the 2009 and 2010 Freedom House surveys (Table 14). President’s term be limited to two, or unlimited One or two houses for parliament Appointment versus election of MPs Role of traditional leaders facilitated or limited Courts to be independent or politically loyal Election run by independent or government body Table 14: Constitutional preferences over two elections – with the reform options shaded Limit to two Unlimited 2009 2010 2009 2010 78 77 14 16 Abolish senate Keep both houses 2009 2010 2009 2010 43 42 42 40 President has power to appoint All MPs elected 2009 2010 2009 2010 11 13 84 80 Reserve position Limit role to local government 2009 2010 2009 2010 26 23 65 70 Establish independent courts Judges must be politically loyal 2009 2010 2009 2010 78 87 12 7 Run by government agency Independent commission 2009 2010 2009 2010 20 16 73 77 Question: ‘Let us now briefly look at the type of government institutions Zimbabweans would like to see emerge from the new constitution. Which of the following statements do you most agree with, and how strongly?’ [Q31Q36] Note: Percentages in this table represent the joint percentage, on the respective items, for ‘agree with’ and ‘agree very strongly with’ To summarise, the main trends on the contents of the desired new constitution were (Table 14): The president needs to be limited to serving two terms [Q31]. Opinion is divided on whether both houses of parliament should be kept, or if the upper house should be scrapped [Q32]. There is strong opinion against the president having the power to appoint some members of parliament [Q33]. 43