President Emmerson Mnangagwa announced Wednesday that Zimbabwe will hold general elections on August 23, 2023
Mnangagwa made the announcement in a government gazette where he also set June 21 as the date for the sitting of the nomination court for prospective candidates to register.
He set October 2 as the date for the election runoff in the event that no presidential candidate gets an outright win of 50 percent plus one vote.
In the notice, Mnangagwa said he had fixed “the 23rd day of August, 2023, as the day of the election to the office of President, the election of members of the National Assembly and election of councillors, that is to say, as the day on which a poll shall be taken if a poll becomes necessary in terms of section 46(17)(c) or 125(4)(b) of the Electoral Act [Chapter 2:13] for the election to the office of President or any such members of the National Assembly or councillors;
“And fix the 2nd day of October, 2023, as the day of the runoff election to the office of President, that is to say as the day on which a poll shall be taken if such a poll becomes necessary in terms of section 38(1)(a)(iii) of the Electoral Act;”
The enactment was published in a government gazette Wednesday setting the stage for an intriguing battle for the polls.
President Mnangagwa will face off with his old rival Nelson Chamisa of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) in the presidential poll.
The proclamation comes at a time CCC is finalizing selection of candidates who will represent the party in the elections whilst the Movement for Democratic Change led by Douglas Mwonzora is challenging the legality of the recently gazetted delimitation report.
