The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has announced that Presidential Election results are expected tonight at 10 p.m. ZEC initially said it aims to release the results by Sunday evening but it seems they aim to announce them tonight.
This follows the completion of the announcement of National Assembly results in which the ZANU PF party won 136 out of 210 while the opposition party, Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), secured 73 seats.
The election for the Gutu West Constituency National Assembly seat could not take place due to the death of independent candidate Mutonhori Christopher Rwodzi. He was scheduled to compete against the incumbent Member of Parliament, John Paradza from ZANU PF, and Ephraim Murudu of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC). According to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), if a candidate passes away, the nomination process is rendered invalid under Section 50 of the Electoral Act.
In response to the National Assembly election results, Gift Siziba, the recently elected Member of Parliament for the Pelandaba/Tshabalala Constituency, expressed his appreciation to the voters for their support in choosing the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) despite facing challenges and difficulties. He said:
Citizens of Zimbabwe are the Great! Despite all the rigging, command voting, voter suppression and terror- we have bagged all these parliamentary seats. Against all odds!
Some CCC supporters, however, expressed concern that despite progress made by the opposition, ZANU PF still holds the majority of seats in Parliament. While ZANU PF won more seats than CCC, the ruling party’s 136 seats fell short of a two-thirds majority. To achieve that, they needed 140 seats, which is two-thirds of the total 210 seats.