Post date: Mar 16, 2013 3:21:40 PM
Zimbabwe's leaders votes on a constitution that would cut the president's power and pave the way for an election to decide whether Robert Mugabe extends his three-decade rule.
CHITUNGWIZA, ZIMBABWE (MARCH 16, 2013) (REUTERS) - Zimbabwe's former opposition chief and the country's prime ministerMorgan Tsvangirai made a referendum on the new constitution a condition of the power-sharing deal with president Robert Mugabe saying there would be no point in holding new elections without it.
The PM, in the capital Harare, voted with the rest of the country on Saturday (March 16) though voter turn out was expected to be low.The new constitution would set a maximum two five-year terms for the president, starting with the next election, expected in the second half of this year. But the limit will not apply retroactively, so Mugabe could rule for another two terms.
Presidential decrees will also require majority backing in the cabinet and declarations of emergency rule or dissolutions of parliament will need the approval of two thirds of lawmakers.
"We've defined this for ourselves - this is a new political dispensation. And I hope it is setting a new political culture: from the culture of impunity to the culture of constitutionalism," Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said after casting his vote.
Tsvangirai went into government with Mugabe after a violent and disputed vote in 2008.
Both parties back the constitution and Zimbabweans were expected to endorse it making Saturday's vote almost a rubber stamp exercise.
Mugabe is Africa's oldest president at 89. He has ruled the former British colony since independence in 1980 and has been accused of carrying out harsh crackdowns on the opposition and weakening state institutions like the cabinet and parliament.
"You can't go about beating other people in the streets. That's not allowed. We want peace in the country. Peace, peace, peace, but begin with Robert Mugabe, and go all to you and everyone else. We all need peace," Mugabe said after casting his vote in the referendum.
The run-up to the referendum was peaceful. Analysts say they are more worried about presidential and parliamentary elections later this year, where Mugabe's ZANU-PF is expected to face a stiff challenge from Tsvangirai's MDC, although there are no reliable polls.
The period preceding previous elections since 2000 has been marred by violence, and the MDC says hundreds of its members have been killed at the hands of Mugabe's youth brigades and independent war veterans supporters.
Tsvangirai defeated Mugabe in March 2008 but not by enough votes to avoid a second round of voting.
The former trade union leader was forced to quit the run-off race after a campaign of violence by Mugabe's supporters but regional leaders intervened to force the two rivals to form a coalition government.
Although fragile and at times acrimonious, the unity government has eased political tensions and helped stabilise an economy which shrank 40 percent between 2000 and 2010.
Mugabe wants to continue with his nationalist policies, like seizing white-owned commercial farms and taking majority shares in foreign-owned firms.
The MDC says if it wins it will revive a once-vibrant economy, attract foreign investment and reduce one of the world's highest jobless rates of 80 percent.