Zanu-PF cheered by 53 uncontested council seats

Zanu-PF on Thursday said it won 53 local authority seats unchallenged at the close of the nomination court sittings, but the party was challenged in all 210 National Assembly races by the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC).

In 2018, the main opposition MDC Alliance failed to field candidates in three National Assembly races – Insiza North, Mbare and Hurungwe East – and 46 local authority elections.

Zanu-PF political commissar Mike Bimha said: "This is very pleasing, 53 uncontested seats in the local authorities.

"MPs I still have to get information on that, but we are now definite about the 53 wards which have been uncontested which is good news."

CCC leader Nelson Chamisa tweeted on Thursday: "Fielding all 210 MPs across the country cost us US$210,000 plus US$30,000. We did it! Fielding all senators, women proportional representation, youth quota and almost all proportional representation council lists. Fielding in almost all 1,970 wards except a few where we had glitches."

Chamisa said his party was pursuing legal action to correct the acceptance of over a dozen double candidates by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. He said the CCC had sent details of its officials who would be signing nomination papers for candidates complete with signatures, and any other candidates other than those on published official list could only have been accepted by ZEC through forgery.

CCC activist Freeman Chari said he was in fact "amazed" the party had been able to field so many candidates "in spite of all the sinks and toilets thrown at them."

"When you have spent six years following daily the shenanigans by ZEC and the Zanu-PF government on this party, you realise that this on its own is an achievement.

"The issue of double candidates is not of CCC's doing. We are dealing with a dictatorship and a ZEC which is a spouse of Zanu-PF. No sane electoral body would ever entertain this, but they do because it serves their interests."