Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) leader, Nelson Chamisa has said the nomination of candidates kicks off on Wednesday the 5th of April 2023.
He said the selection process is citizen-centric amid criticism that the party’s leadership intends to handpick its representatives in the harmonised elections scheduled for later this year.
This comes as its main rival, the ruling ZANU PF party, is currently polishing up its primary elections process after conducting the internal plebiscite last week.
Chamisa said the CCC is abandoning the “old fashioned” primary election candidate selection approach in favour of a system anchored on citizens’ consensus.
He told NewZimbabwe.com on Sunday that the selection process is called citizenocratic. Chamisa said:
It is a brand new candidate selection process; it’s fresh.
It’s novel and it’s modern and places the citizen at the centre of the process. Citizenocracy is government by the citizens. It’s a citizenocratic selection process.
Citizens want candidates to be selected on merit, integrity, dignity, suitability and accountability. Citizens prefer representatives who are visible, accessible and available.
Those leaders who regularly report back to constituencies and communities to get instructions and progress on policies and national priorities of public interest.
All these are going to be considered through a rigorous vetting panel that looks at these critical tests.
In the event that we have more candidates nominated, citizens caucuses are convened. A citizen caucus is constituted by those who have subscribed to citizen philosophy and ideology in the constituency or in a particular ward.
The process also involves wide consultation with stakeholders in that particular constituency or ward.
Chamisa said the new process is also going to be complemented by the introduction of Townhall Debates on policy issues as well as Constituency Citizens Debates which are a first of its kind.
He said the Democratic Community Consensus System involves a panel of independent citizens who will oversee the selection of candidates for the community. The citizens will question the nominees through a process called “manifesto pitching,” and then democratically select their candidates through consensus.
When asked about who will lead the programs in the absence of party structures, he replied that citizens are the structures across the country, which is the strongest structure. He also said that there are safeguards in place to ensure citizens’ safe participation, including internal systems and external structures such as the police, despite reports of disruption of meetings by ruling party supporters.
Chamisa added that the nomination of CCC candidates starts on Wednesday, and it’s different from other parties because they don’t require a CV. Instead, they look at a person’s contributions to the community as their qualification for nomination. The CCC is looking for people who are loyal to the country, the people or constituency, and God. These are the three attributes they are considering for nomination.