HARARE – The Zimbabwe Electoral Support Network (ZESN) has renewed calls for by-elections in 20 constituencies where the Harare unity government has deferred polls apparently because of fears elections could plunge the country back into political violence as parties jockey for the vacant parliamentary seats.

Political violence and human rights abuses – which are resurgent in several parts of the country -- have accompanied Zimbabwe’s elections since the emergency of MDC party as the first real electoral threat to President Robert Mugabe and his ZANU PF party.

The country’s three ruling parties agreed in a power-sharing pact that gave birth to their coalition government to not to hold by-elections for a year.

According to the September 2008 global political agreement (GPA) that gave birth to Zimbabwe’s unity government, President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Premier Arthur Mutambara agreed a one-year moratorium on the holding of by-elections in the event of the death or promotion of sitting parliamentarians.

The moratorium expired in September 2009 but, nine months later, Mugabe has not called for by-elections to fill 20 House of Assembly and Senate seats left vacant by the death or appointment to higher office of incumbent legislators.

The ZESN, a coalition of 36 NGOs that campaigns for free and fair elections in Zimbabwe, said while the reasons for the elections moratorium might have been noble the pro-longed delay in ordering by-elections was disadvantaging the electorate in the affected constituencies.

“ZESN calls for the conduct of by-elections or other ways to ensure that all constituencies are represented through internally democratic principles,” the group said at the weekend.

Critics say Mugabe is deliberately delaying calling for by-elections to buy time until general elections set for next year and to avoid an embarrassing defeat.

They accuse the 86-year-old Zimbabwean leader of violating the country’s Electoral Act by not calling for by-elections to fill vacant House of Assembly and Senatorial seats.

Some of the vacancies have existed since October 2008, a month after the signing of the GPA.

He is also accused of violating the new "political rights" section in the Constitution, which gives every citizen the constitutional right to vote in regular elections.

There are currently 12 seats in the House of Assembly left vacant following deaths of MPs or the appointment of seating members to other offices while there are eight vacancies in the Senate.

ZANU PF has lost five legislators in the House of Assembly, followed by Tsvangirai’s MDC-T with four and the breakaway MDC faction headed by Mutambara has three vacancies.

Mugabe’s party has also lost five senators while the MDC-T and MDC have two and one vacancies respectively.

By Zimonline