WORLD NEWS: ZIMBABWE OPPOSITION CONDEMNS ONE-SIDED BY-ELECTIONS

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Agency Report

Important by-elections were held in Zimbabwe on Saturday, with President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s party seeking to strengthen its hold on power and the opposition in disarray following their exclusion from the voter rolls.

Nine by-elections were planned, but in a chaotic run-up to the polls, courts removed the majority of opposition candidates from the electoral lists.

One of the nine districts in Harare did not hold polls since the candidate of the ruling ZANU-PF faced no opposition, according to locals. The polling places were secured.

Munyaradzi Kufahakutizwi, the opposition candidate for the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), met with supporters outside his home after losing his seat in the national parliament and being disqualified from running for office again.

“We have witnessed that there is no rule of law. The constitution, the courts have been captured,” he told AFP, adding that the episode was a “bad omen” for the future.

⁠ ⁠Courts evict opposition –

Joseph Chirwa, a CCC supporter, stated that ZANU-PF was “pushing us to be violent, but our leader has always preached peace” while he was standing nearby.

The 81-year-old Mnangagwa was able to clinch a new term in August’s nationwide election, which saw his ZANU-PF party win 177 of the 280 national parliament seats, with the CCC securing 104.

However, nine by-elections were called, and 14 CCC MPs were expelled from parliament two months later. Proportional representation is used to decide the remaining five seats.

Sengezo Tshabangu, a little-known politician, introduced himself as the CCC’s “interim secretary general” and claimed that the 14 could not retain their seats since they were no longer party members.

Former pastor and CCC leader Nelson Chamisa objected, claiming Tshabangu was not a party member and that no agreement had been reached regarding expulsions.

Nonetheless, the ZANU-PF speaker of the house called for fresh elections.

The Harare High Court affirmed on Saturday the rulings made by courts this week, which stated that the opposition candidates were not eligible to run for office in their previous seats.

According to the CCC, ZANU-PF is employing Tshabangu in a “nefarious” effort to obliterate opposition candidates off voting papers.

Additionally, it has charged that the ruling party is responsible for the fatal assaults on its activists. Last month, a Kufahakutizwi party worker in Harare was kidnapped and murdered.

The ruling party, which stands to benefit the most from an increase in seats, has refuted any involvement with Tshabangu’s operations.

But ZANU-PF is only ten seats short of obtaining the two-thirds majority needed in parliament to amend the constitution.

81-year-old Mnangagwa would be able to continue in office if the party were to remove the prohibition on presidents serving more than two terms, according to observers.

The date of the election results’ release was not immediately announced by the authorities.

AFP