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From Roach Busters
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PART III
THE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY
Constitution of House of Assembly
52. The House of Assembly shall be composed of 120 members who shall be elected in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution and subject thereto in accordance with the provisions of any Act of the Legislature.
Elections
53. At any general election of members of the House of Assembly under this Constitution, all polls shall be taken on one and the same day in all the constituencies throughout the Republic, such day to be appointed by the State President.
Constituencies
54. Zimbezia shall be divided into as many constituencies as there are members of the House of Assembly and each of those constituencies shall return one member to the House of Assembly.
Delimitation Commission
55. (1) The Judicial Service Commission shall, at intervals of not less than five nor more than 10 years, appoint a Delimitation Commission consisting of a Chairman and not more than four other members.
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1) of this section, at any time when —
(a) the Legislature has made provision altering the number of seats of members in the House of Assembly; or
(b) a comprehensive national population census is held in Zimbezia, the Judicial Service Commission shall, as soon as practicable thereafter, appoint a Delimitation Commission.
(3) The Chairman of a Delimitation Commission shall be selected from among persons who hold or have held high judicial office.
(4) No person shall be qualified to be appointed as Chairman or member of a Delimitation Commission who —
(a) is or has been within the preceding five years actively engaged in politics; or
(b) is a public officer.
(5) A person shall be deemed to be actively engaged in politics or to have been so engaged during the relevant period if —
(a) he is, or was at any time during that period —
(i) the State President; or
(ii) a member of the Senate or of the House of Assembly; or
(iii) a member of a provincial executive committee or a provincial council; or
(iv) a member of a local government; or
(b) he is, or was at any time during that period, nominated as a candidate for election to —
(i) the office of State President; or
(ii) the Senate or the House of Assembly; or
(iii) a provincial executive committee or a provincial council; or
(iv) a local government;
(c) he is, or was at any time during that period, the holder of an office in any political organization that sponsors or supports, or has at any time sponsored or supported, a candidate for election as —
(i) the State President; or
(ii) a member of the Senate or of the House of Assembly; or
(iii) a member of a provincial executive committee or a provincial council; or
(iv) a member of a local government.
(6) For the purposes of subsection (4)(b), a person shall not be deemed to be a public officer by reason of holding any office for which no renumeration is paid other than payment by way of traveling or subsistence allowances or out-of-pocket expenses.
(7) The office of Chairman or other member of the Delimitation Commission shall become vacant if circumstances arise that, were he not Chairman or member of the Delimitation Commission, would disqualify him for appointment as such.
(8) If, after the appointment of the Delimitation Commission and before the Commission has submitted its report under section 56, the office of Chairman or any other member of the Commission falls vacant or the holder of the office becomes unable for any reason to discharge his functions as a member of the Commission, the Judicial Service Commission may, subject to the provisions of subsections (3) to (5) of this section, appoint another person to be a member of the Commission:
Provided that a member appointed under this section because of the inability of some other member to discharge his functions shall cease to be a member of the Commission when, in the opinion of the Judicial Service Commission, that other member is able to resume his functions as a member of the Commission.
Report of Commission
56. (1) Whenever a Delimitation Commission has been appointed the Commission shall as soon as practicable submit to the State President a report which shall state whether any alteration is necessary to the boundaries of the constituencies in order to give effect to subsection (2) of this section or in consequence of any alteration in the number of seats of members of the House of Assembly and where any alteration is necessary shall include a list of the constituencies delimited by the Commission and a description of the boundaries of those constituencies.
(2) The boundaries of each constituency shall be such that the number of inhabitants thereof is as nearly equal to the population quota as is reasonably practicable:
Provided that the number of inhabitants of a constituency may be greater or less than the population quota in order to take account of community or diversity of interests, means of communication, physical features, boundaries of existing constituencies and sparsity or density of population.
(3) In this section “population quota” means the number obtained by dividing the number of inhabitants of Zimbezia (as ascertained by reference to the latest comprehensive national population census in Zimbezia) by the number of constituencies into which Zimbezia is divided under section 54 of this Constitution.
(4) The State President shall as soon as practicable after the submission of the report of the Delimitation Commission, by proclamation published in the Gazette, declare the boundaries of the constituencies as delimited by the Commission.
(5) A proclamation made under subsection (4) of this section shall come into force at the next dissolution of the House of Assembly after it is made.
(6) The Commission may by regulation or otherwise regulate its own procedure and may, subject to its rules of procedure, act notwithstanding any vacancy in its membership or the absence of any member and its proceedings shall not be invalidated by the presence or participation of any person not entitled to be present at or to participate in those proceedings:
Provided that any decision of the Commission shall require the concurrence of a majority of all its members.
(7) In the exercise of its functions under this section the Delimitation Commission shall not be subject to the direction or control of any other person or authority.
(8) A Delimitation Commission shall stand dissolved upon the date on which its report is delivered to the State President.
Appointment of Independent Electoral Commission
57. (1) There shall be an Independent Electoral Commission which shall consist of —
(a) a Chairman who shall be a judge of the High Court appointed by the Judicial Service Commission;
(b) a legal practitioner appointed by the Judicial Service Commission; and
(c) five other persons who are fit, proper and impartial, appointed by the Judicial Service Commission from a list of persons recommended by the All Party Conference.
(2) Where the All Party Conference fail to agree on all or any number of persons referred to in subsection (1)(c) up to dissolution of Parliament, the Judicial Service Commission shall appoint such person or persons as are necessary to fill any vacancy.
(3) For the purposes of this section, “All Party Conference” means a meeting of all registered political parties convened from time to time by the Minister.
(4) The first appointments of the Chairman and the Members of the Commission shall be made not later than January 31, 1965, and thereafter subsequent appointments shall be made at the last dissolution of every two successive lives of Parliament.
(5) The Chairman and the members of the Commission shall hold office for a period of two successive lives of Parliament.
(6) A person shall not be qualified to be appointed as a member of the Independent Electoral Commission if —
(a) he has been declared insolvent or adjudged or otherwise declared bankrupt under any law in force in any part of Zimbezia and has not been discharged, or has made a composition with his creditors and has not paid his debts in full; or
(b) he has been convicted of any offense involving dishonesty in any country.
(7) A person appointed a member of the Commission shall not enter upon the duties of the office of Commissioner until he has taken and subscribed the oath of allegiance and such oath for the due execution of his office as may be prescribed by an Act of the Legislature.
(8) The Commission shall regulate its own procedure and proceedings.
(9) The Chairman shall preside over all proceedings, and in his absence, the legal practitioner referred to in subsection (1)(b) shall preside over the proceedings.
(10) The quorum shall be four members, one of whom shall be the Chairman or the said legal practitioner.
(11) All issues shall be decided by the decision of the majority of the members present and voting.
(12) The Commission shall be responsible for —
(a) the conduct and supervision of elections of the members of the House of Assembly and members of a provincial council, and conduct of a referendum;
(b) giving instructions and directions to the Secretary of the Commission appointed under section 58 in regard to the exercise of his functions under the electoral law prescribed by an Act of the Legislature;
(c) ensuring that elections are conducted efficiently, properly, freely and fairly; and
(d) performing such other functions as may be prescribed by an Act of the Legislature.
(13) The Commission shall on the completion of any election conducted by it, submit a report on the exercise of its functions under the preceding provisions of this section to the Minister for the time being responsible for matters relating to such elections, and that Minister shall, not later than seven days after the House of Assembly first meets after he has received the report, lay it before the House of Assembly.
Appointment of Secretary to Independent Electoral Commission
58. (1) There shall be a Secretary to the Independent Electoral Commission referred to in section 57 (in this section referred to as “the Secretary”).
(2) The Secretary shall be appointed by the State President on the advice of the Prime Minister.
(3) The functions of the Secretary shall, subject to the directions and supervision of the Independent Electoral Commission, be to exercise general supervision over the registration of voters for elections of —
(a) the members of the House of Assembly; and
(b) the members of any provincial council, and over the conduct of such elections.
(4) A person shall not be qualified to be appointed as Secretary to the Independent Electoral Commission if —
(a) he is not a citizen of Zimbezia;
(b) he has been declared insolvent or adjudged or otherwise declared bankrupt under any law in force in any part of Zimbezia and has not been discharged, or has made a composition with his creditors and has not paid his debts in full; or
(c) he has been convicted of any offense involving dishonesty in any country.
(5) A person shall not enter upon the duties of the office of Secretary until he has taken and subscribed to the oath of allegiance and such oath for the due execution of his office as may be prescribed by an Act of the Legislature.
(6) For the purposes of the exercise of his functions under subsection (3), the Secretary may give such directions as he considers necessary or expedient to any registering officer, presiding officer or returning officer relating to the exercise by that officer of his functions under any law regulating the registration of voters or the conduct of elections, and any officer to whom directions are given under this subsection shall comply with those directions.
(7) Subject to the provisions of this section, a person holding office as Secretary shall vacate that office on attaining the age of 65 years or such other age as may be prescribed by an Act of the Legislature.
(8) A holder of the office of Secretary may be removed from office only for inability to perform the functions of his office (whether arising from infirmity of body or mind or from any other cause) or for misbehavior, and shall not be so removed except in accordance with the provisions of this section.
(9) If the State President considers that the question of removing the Secretary ought to be investigated then —
(a) he shall appoint a tribunal which shall consist of a Chairman and not less than two members who hold or have held high judicial office;
(b) the tribunal shall inquire into and report on the facts thereof to the State President and advise the State President whether the Secretary ought to be removed from office under this section for inability to perform the functions of his office or for misbehavior.
(10) Where a tribunal appointed under subsection (9) advises the State President that the Secretary ought to be removed for inability to perform the functions of his office or for misbehavior, the State President shall remove him from office.
(11) If the question of removing the Secretary from office has been referred to a tribunal under subsection (9) of this section, the State President may suspend him from performing the functions of his office, and any such suspension may at any time be revoked by the State President and shall cease to have effect if the tribunal advises the State President that the Secretary ought not to be removed from office.
