Mliswa urges opposition parties to contest elections without coalition

NORTON MP, Temba Mliswa yesterday said opposition parties should campaign and contest next year's general elections without a coalition and use the results to form a broad alliance to defeat President Robert Mugabe in a run-off.

"We should form a coalition based on the result of the first round of elections, which will prove the strengths of each party, then have a coalition to win the run-off. The challenge, for now, is to penetrate Zanu-PF areas, which Zimbabwe People First has failed to do," he said.

Mliswa was of the view that the opposition had to win in the Mashonaland provinces, which have remained Zanu-PF strongholds.

The independent MP said there was need to woo war veterans and traditional leaders to the side of the opposition to win in politically volatile areas.

"The greatest reform we need is to convince the war veterans to stop the use of violence during elections and traditional leaders to stop coercing people to vote for Zanu-PF," he said.

Mliswa's remarks come as the opposition is frantically trying to build a coalition ahead of the elections. The talks are reportedly being stalled by personality clashes and differences over who will lead the coalition and the formula of fielding parliamentary candidates.

Mliswa said the formation of the Third Force would not split votes among the opposition parties. The Third Force is a loose organisation of youthful political activists, who are seeking public office as transformation agents.

"The Third Force has always been there. The majority of voters do not belong to any political party. So we need people, who can make them vote and naturally we assume youths will vote for other youths," he said.

Mliswa also bemoaned the over-reliance on social media by opposition political parties instead of getting on the ground to convince voters.

"Social media is now dictating the politics in this country," the MP said.