PAP President Charumbira re-elected into the Zimbabwe Senate

The President of the Pan African Parliament (PAP), H. E. Senator Chief Fortune Charumbira has emerged unopposed as the Deputy President of the Zimbabwe Council of Chiefs in an election conducted by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission in Bulawayo.

His election automatically makes him a Senator by operation of the law, that is, Section 120.1(c) of the Constitution of Zimbabwe. The constitutional provision states that the President and Deputy President of the Chief’s Council are automatically members of the Senate of Zimbabwe. This is even as the Zimbabwe’s Parliament is slated for dissolution at midnight on 23rd August.

Zimbabwe Senate consists of 80 members out of whom 18 are from the National Council of Chiefs while the rest are elected during the general election, sponsored by political parties. With the emergence of the President and Deputy President of the Chief’s Council, the rest of the 16 members are chosen from the country’s 8 non metropolitan provinces.

The implication of this development is that Chief Charumbira retains his seat in Parliament notwithstanding the dissolution of Parliament on the eve of election as the Chief’s Council election has already taken place prior to the dissolution of the Parliament. He also continues as a “Returning Member” of PAP.

As a “Returning Member” under the Rules of Procedure of the Pan-African Parliament as amended, there are no impediments to his continuing his office as President of the continental parliament having secured his position as a senator. Specifically, Rule 16(15) of PAP’s Rules of Procedure states that “A member of the Bureau shall remain competent to perform his or her functions if he or she is re-elected or re-designated by his or her National Parliament or other deliberative organ.”

It would be recalled that the First Vice President of PAP representing the Northern Region, Hon. Prof. Massouda Mohamed Laghdaf (Mrs.) who was successful in her parliamentary election in her home country of Mauritania in May 2023, successfully resumed her office after the administration of oath as a member of PAP during the Second Ordinary Session of the Sixth Parliament in line with the provisions of the PAP Rules of Procedure.