CCC leader Nelson Chamisa has been urged to insist on electoral reforms before any new elections are held to break the cycle of disputed elections.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) announced President Emmerson Mnangagwa as the winner of the presidential race but Chamisa rejected the results, alleging rigging.
Political analysts who spoke to The Standard said the electoral environment in the lead-up to the 2023 Harmonised Elections was tilted in favour of ZANU PF.
Maxwell Saungweme, a political analyst, said the 2023 elections were a repeat of the 2018 elections as the playing field was uneven. He said:
It’s a big lesson for 2028 that without reforms there is no way we expect free and fair elections.
There is nothing new in this election, the electoral field was uneven, there were no electoral reforms, and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is still not independent.
Chamisa and his party entered the election in such an environment; they knew the race was uneven.
Chamisa actually said there was no room for rigging and we heard this in 2018. So it’s just a repeat of the same.
Saungweme added that it doesn’t make sense for Chamisa to order CCC MPs and councillors not to take up their positions. He said:
The councillors and MPs invested a lot in these elections because the party was poorly funded.
They see going to parliament and council as an opportunity to recover the expenses they incurred during the campaigns.
Political scientist Fanuel Kaseke said the courts will not overturn the election results if Chamisa chose the legal route. Said Kaseke:
Any court attempt will just be theatrics that will not overturn the August 23 sham election.
The best course of action is to challenge the process, not the results.
It is a public secret that the elections were flawed, chaotic and marred with intimidation, ZEC manipulated the figures.
He said Chamisa’s hope is on SADC putting pressure on Mnangagwa but if regional leaders uphold the disputed poll, that would be “the end of the road for Chamisa.” Said Kaseke:
If SADC countries acknowledge Mnangagwa as president, as they have been doing, it is indeed the end of the road for Chamisa.
His ally Zambian president Hakainde Hichilema who is the Sadc chairperson of the organ on politics, defence and security cooperation has already been demonised as a Western puppet by the so-called revolutionary parties, with South Africa’s ANC joining the party.
His influence alone might not be sufficient to favour Chamisa’s desire for a rerun.
CCC spokesperson Promise Mkhwananzi said their members would take up their seats in Parliament “and claim more seats that were stolen”.
CCC won 73 National Assembly seats while ZANU PF got 136 seats out of the 209 contested seats.
A by-election will be held in Gutu West after one of the candidates, Christopher Mutonhori Rwodzi, died in a car accident after the sitting of the Nomination Court on 21 June.
More: Pindula News