Zimbabwe weighs constitutional changes

Angus Shaw

HARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe’s government has proposed constitutional amendments on electoral policy and the creation of a human rights commission, steps critics say are designed to mask abuses and strengthen President Robert Mugabe’s hold on power.

The proposed rights commission would have 16 members drawn from names compiled by Mugabe and the ruling party-dominated parliament, according to an official notice made available last Saturday.

Human rights groups and Mugabe critics have called the proposed commission a likely smoke screen for his democratic and human rights abuses. However, the government says it was designed following U.N. recommendations.

Mugabe’s government has been clamping down on the opposition, fearing a worsening economic crisis could spark an uprising. Annual inflation is running at 3,714 percent — the highest in the world — and there are acute shortages of hard currency, gasoline, food and most other basic goods.

The amendments bill also has provisions for holding parliamentary and presidential elections at the same time in March, and for increasing the number of seats in the House of Assembly from 150 to 210 and in the Senate from 66 to 84.

To hold the elections simultaneously, the bill proposes shortening the terms of the president and parliament from six years to five.

Mugabe has said holding legislative and presidential elections together would minimize ballot costs. Critics have called it a tactic to entrench the ruling party’s hold over the legislature by shortening the existing assembly’s term by two years.

The current House of Assembly, in which the opposition holds 40 seats, was elected amid allegations of violence, intimidation and vote rigging.

The bill, scheduled to be debated by parliament next month, also proposes carving up several constituencies to form new voting districts.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change has accused the government of changing district boundaries to undermine opposition strongholds. The government insists constituencies are too large for incumbent lawmakers to manage their affairs.

The amendments also would reduce the number of lawmakers appointed by Mugabe to the enlarged lower house from 30 to 10. But it increases the number of senators he would name from 16 to 34.

If Mugabe defeats the fractured opposition in presidential elections next year, he would hold on to power until 2013, when he will be nearly 90. The 83-year-old has been Zimbabwe’s only ruler since independence from Britain in 1980.

(Associated Press)