ZANU PF, the governing party in Zimbabwe, has released a list of constituencies that will hold re-run elections. The decision was made because the initial primary elections, held on March 25, were deemed to have fallen short of the required standards.
The party announced that there will be election reruns in Gokwe Nembudziya, Insiza North and Zvimba West.
Justice Mayor Wadyajena and Ziyambi Ziyambi, the current Members of Parliament for Gokwe Nembudziya and Zvimba West, respectively, lost their seats in the primary elections. However, after a verification process, the party has decided to hold re-run elections in their constituencies.
In addition to Gokwe-Nembudziya and Zvimba West, there will also be a re-run election in Insiza North due to confrontations and violence during the initial poll. Incumbent MP Farai Taruvinga will face off against former ZEC Commissioner Qhubani Moyo. The ruling party will have a total of five re-run elections, including Churu and Mbare constituencies in Harare, with the date to be announced.
ZANU PF’s national spokesperson, Chris Mutsvangwa, spoke to journalists after a Politburo meeting chaired by President Emmerson Mnangagwa at the party headquarters in Harare yesterday. Mutsvangwa described the recently held primaries as a democratic expression of millions of party members who participated in the intra-party polls. The Sunday News quotes him as saying:
We had a long Politburo meeting today (yesterday). This is the final day. l am pleased to announce that the 10 provinces have been completed. Our primaries were as democratic as any can be. Ten provinces are done and the verification for the final four provinces has been completed. In areas like Gokwe Nembudziya, Insiza North and Zvimba West, there were some confrontations between various candidates’ groups, as a result we don’t think that we got a proper reflection of the winning candidates. We felt that reruns under the strictest conditions will give us the best outcome
ZANU PF announced the results of the primary elections held in Masvingo, Midlands, Matabeleland South, and Mashonaland West Provinces yesterday. The names of the winning candidates will be disclosed today.
In Gutu East, the winning candidate was disqualified because it was discovered that his paperwork for transferring from one political district to another was not in order. Zanu PF’s national spokesperson, Chris Mutsvangwa, commented that the candidate may have schemed to become a candidate, and they will need to carefully consider the situation.
He said the same happened in Manicaland province and that leaves the current Manicaland Provincial Women’s League Chairperson, Happiness Nyakuedzwa, duly elected.
Mutsvangwa said the final team of ZANU PF for the upcoming elections was launched after several Politburo sessions. He added that the party is confident that the “democratically elected team” will defeat the opposition parties MDC and CCC. He added that they aim to reconcile the losers and winners within the party.
Mutsvangwa reiterated President Mnangagwa’s stance against violence and mentioned that the party made necessary corrections where needed to prevent violence during the primaries. He also mentioned that Politburo was thorough in verifying each candidate to ensure the selection of appropriate candidates.
The party expressed satisfaction with the participation of younger generations in the primaries and considered it a renewal process in ZANU PF. However, some instances of violence were addressed by Politburo. Mutsvangwa added that there will be reruns in some areas, which will be announced by the Commissar on Wednesday (today).