A International Principles and Commitments The fundamental civil and political rights necessary for democratic elections are set out in the 2013 Constitution and the country’s commitments, being a State Party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women. Zimbabwe also signed the SADC Principles and Guidelines on Democratic Elections and the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance. B The Constitution of Zimbabwe The promulgation of a new Constitution on 22 May 2013, following a lengthy negotiation process that started in 1999, led to a plethora of reforms that were hailed by the civil society as necessary for the creation of an environment conducive for the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms and the holding of democratic elections. Notably, the Constitution enhanced civil and political rights, such as the freedoms of assembly and association, of expression and of the media, the right of access to information9 and introduced the funding of political parties for the purpose of “promoting multi-party democracy”.10 It also introduced a mixed electoral system for the parliamentary elections, instead of the first-past-the-post system (FPTP) which was in place for both chambers of Parliament, 11 and strengthened the role of the ZEC by making it solely responsible for the registration of voters and accreditation of observers. Regrettably, the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No.1) Act of 2017 that amended the system of the appointment of the Chief Justice, the Deputy Chief Justice and the Judge President of the High Court by the President after consultation with the Judicial Service Commission, which was actually the system in the Lancaster House Constitution12, limited the independence of the judiciary by enhancing the presidential powers.13 9 The 2013 Constitution introduced in s.62 for the first time the right of access to information held by the State, its institutions or its agencies of government at any level. 10 Funding of political parties was already provided in the Political Parties Finance Act (PPFA), enacted in 2002, but only for those parties whose candidates participated in the general election and received five per cent of the votes cast; importantly, the 2013 Constitution in its s.67(4) does not impose such restrictions. 11 A quota with an 60 seats for women through a PR party-list system was introduced in the 2013 Constitution. 12 The Lancaster House Agreement, signed on 21 December 1979, declared a ceasefire in the Rhodesian war, and led to the creation of the Republic of Zimbabwe. The Agreement included an Independence Constitution as well as preindependence arrangements and a ceasefire. The Agreement is named after Lancaster House in London, where the parties to the settlement attended the conference on independence from 10 September to 15 December 1979. 13 Under the previous system of appointment, the President should make these appointments from a list of nominees put forward by the Judicial Service Commission, following a public interview of the candidates. On 1st February 2018 the Constitutional Court heard a matter brought before it by two opposition party MPs, who were challenging the legality of this amendment. They argued that, when the bill was debated and voted for, the National Assembly and Senate were not fully constituted as some legislators who did not attend the sessions were counted as present, this resulting in a contravention of s.328(5) of the Constitution which requires a Constitutional Bill to be passed by twothirds of the membership of both Senate and National Assembly, sitting separately. They also argued that no vote was conducted as required by law, as assumption had been made that all ZANU-PF MPs would vote for the bill while those in opposition would oppose it, resulting in simply counting the number of people on each side. Up to date, the Court has not delivered its judgment. 6