ZANU PF Central Committee member Andrew Langa has withdrawn his candidature for the Insiza South Constituency primary election rerun scheduled for 22 April 2023.
Langa issued a statement on 16 April, explaining his decision to withdraw from the race.
He said he decided to withdraw his candidature in order “to maintain party stability in the constituency”.
Langa pledged to work with the ZANU PF candidate in the coming elections, Spare Sithole. Wrote Langa:
After Consultations with our Party & State President HE President ED Mnangagwa regarding the primary election rerun in Insiza South Constituency I hereby make this formal announcement:
1) That I Andrew Langa has withdrawn from the race in line with the wisdom provided by His Excellency to maintain party stability in the constituency and balance traditional leaders’ views on the Constituency.
2) That I will support the Party Candidate Hon Spare Sithole in the coming elections in order for the Party to retain the seat and we also work together to win votes for our President, MP and Councillors.
3) I call upon all those who were behind my candidature to accept my decision and work with the rest of the Party members to achieve the goal of ensuring that ZANU PF wins the seat.
4) I know that this may not be an easy decision for many but we need to accept it as it is in the interest of Party cohesion and unity which has always been the backbone of our Party.
5) I would like to thank all our campaign teams and mobilisers as well as those who voted for us. Let’s continue working on all Party programmes for our President to achieve 5 million votes.
Last week, one of the candidates for the ZANU PF primary election re-run in the Zvimba West constituency Gifford Gomwe also withdrew his candidature.
Gomwe had come out a distant third in a three-horse race that was won by less than 100 votes by Maruva Mercy Dinha on 25 March.
However, according to unconfirmed results, Dinha won 6 022 votes while her challenger, Ziyambi Ziyambi garnered 2 331 votes in the rerun on 15 April.
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