end. An article in The Herald on 7 June that was very critical of EISA had initiated a period of difficult cooperation with the ZEC, and their programme came to a stand-still. Some activities, such as the interparty liaison committees, had been set up, but the work had to proceed without EISA’s facilitation in the end. Finance Minister Biti also submitted a request for financial support to the international community on 24 June 2013, indicating a funding gap of USD 107 million. The letter came late and did not outline any implementation mechanism, and no funds were made available as a result of this letter. In the end ZEC was funded by government resources in addition to the assistance already provided through EISA during its former MoU and by UNDP. 7 The Date of the Elections The date of the elections became a controversial issue. ZANU PF was pushing for an early election whereas the MDC formations wanted a few months to prepare. The new Constitution stated in its Article 158: “Timing of elections (1) A general election must be held so that polling takes place not more than— (a) thirty days before the expiry of the five-year period specified in Section 143; (b) where Parliament has passed resolutions to dissolve in terms of Section 143 (2), ninety days after the passing of the last such resolution; or (c) where Parliament is dissolved in terms of Section 109(4) or (5) following a vote of no confidence, ninety days after the dissolution.” However, the Sixth Schedule containing the transitional articles stated in Part 2: “Commencement of this Constitution 3. (1) This Schedule, together with— […] (e) Chapter 7, relating to elections, except Sections 158, 160 and 161; […] come into operation on the publication day. (2) Except as otherwise provided in this Schedule, the rest of this Constitution comes into operation on the day on which the President elected in the first elections assumes office.” This meant that Article 158 was not in force for the first elections and the old Constitution would regulate the election day. 20 Two Articles of the previous Constitution were of interest in this regard: “58 Elections (1) A general election and elections for members of the governing bodies of local authorities shall be held on such day or days within a period not exceeding four months after the issue of a proclamation dissolving Parliament under Section 63(7) or, as the case may be, the dissolution of Parliament under Section 63(4) as the President may, by proclamation in the Gazette, fix.” “63 Prorogation or dissolution (4) Parliament, unless sooner dissolved, shall last for five years, which period shall be deemed to commence on the day the person elected as President enters office in terms of Section 28(5) after an election referred to in Section 28(3)(a), and shall then stand dissolved: Provided that, where the period referred to in this subsection is extended under subsection (5) or (6), Parliament, unless sooner dissolved, shall stand dissolved on the expiration of that extended period. […] (7) Subject to the provisions of subsection (4), any prorogation or dissolution of Parliament shall be by proclamation in the Gazette and, in the case of a dissolution, shall take effect from the day preceding the day or first day, as the case may be, fixed by proclamation in accordance with Section 58(1) for the holding of a general election.” Mr Mugabe took office after the disputed run-off on 29 June 2008. The way it turned out, the elected bodies served the full five years term, and the parliament stood resolved on 29 June 2013. This is a regular case (no extraordinary extension or dissolution) and the relevant reference in Article 59 (1) is to Article 63 (4). This is not disputed, but the Constitutional Court read the paragraph in a rather unusual manner, which will be discussed below. When assessing the time for the elections, the requirement of Schedule Six on an extraordinary voter registration drive of one month after the publication day and before the elections had to be allowed for. Part 3 Article 6 Stated: “(3) The Registrar-General of Voters, under the supervision of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, must conduct a special and intensive voter registration and a voters’ roll inspection exercise for at least thirty days after the publication day.” Under the same schedule’s Part 1 Preliminary it is said that “’publication day’ means the day on which this Constitution, or the statute by which it is enacted, is published in the Gazette in accordance with Section 51(5) of the former Constitution.” According to this publication day was 22 May 2013. 21