The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), an independent election watchdog, has criticised the ruling ZANU party and the main opposition, the MDC led by Nelson Chamisa for not having a clear succession plan.
According to ZESN, the lack of a clear succession plan causes internal instability within the political parties and this may have a knock-on effect on the political stability of the government and nation.
In a statement, ZESN also expressed outrage over the proposed Constitutional Amendment Bill that will remove the running mate clause from the Constitution. Said ZESN:
The running mate clause provision was going to support as well as formalise the selection of vice-presidents of the respective political parties, hence provide a measure of predictability and stability in the leadership transition processes whenever they occurred at both party or government level.
The scrapping of the running mate clause will remove the presidential running mates to allow the President to appoint and fire his deputies at will.
Both ZANU PF and the MDC failed to name successors before the departure of longtime leaders, the late former President Robert Mugabe (through a coup in November 2017) and former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai (through death in February 2018) respectively.