Chamisa would lose the 2018 election

The declaration of 30 July 2018 as the election date sends a clear message that the election season is coming to its natural conclusion. But as the end of the season beckons, it is apparently clear that the MDC Alliance and its candidate, Nelson Chamisa, would definitely lose the forthcoming election for the reasons stated below.

Evidence abound that Chamisa and his wobbly team would lose this election because of their inordinate focus on political banter instead of proffering alternative policies. At a time political parties are expected to unpack their policies and present them to the electorate, the opposition alliance is busy boasting about the supposed youthfulness of Chamisa and attacking other candidates on the basis of their age.

Team Chamisa is oblivious of the fact that age is not a marketable characteristic in politics. Being youthful doesn't translate to better performance or delivery. Recent demonstrations in France against the failure by the supposedly youthful President Emmanual Macron to revive the economy bears testimony to the old adage that age is nothing but a number.

Besides being ideologically bankrupt and majoring on the minor, Chamisa and his team have also been exposed for their condescending treatment of women. With women constituting a decisive electoral block, derogatory utterances against them by Chamisa are not only suicidal but ill-advised. No sane women would vote for a prospective candidate who regularly perpetuates practices that demean their dignity. Because of that medieaval sexist behaviour by Chamisa, his chances of winning the elections have been severely diminished.

Chamisa has also not done any good to his campaign trail after he incessantly used pathological lies to shroud his lack of political appeal. The opposition leader made unfathomable lies before the local and international audiences, the latest of which he was dressed down by the President of Rwanda Paul Kagame.

Logistically, business in the MDC Alliance is in shambles as the partners squabble over the allocation of constituencies. Chamisa's MDC-T is being accused of using Big Brother tactics of elbowing out smaller parties from their apportioned constituencies.

Apart from the squabbles with its alliance partners, the MDC-T is also embroiled in an animated legal wrangle with its offshoot party led by Thokozani Khupe. The wrangle for party name and symbol is likely to remain unresolved beyond the election date thus creating more identity problems for the opposition formation.  Such identity complexities are going to create confusion for the opposition followers, leading to a significant split of the vote at the advantage of ZANU PF.

Chamisa's latest calls for mass demonstrations have not made his situation any better as he exposed his penchant to stoke instability in the country at a time Government had managed to maintain peace and tranquillity. Chamisa was berated during the BBC interview for this provocative antic of inciting his followers to stage demonstrations that are likely to degenerate into violence.

Finally, Chamisa and his team have failed to release their manifesto on time with only two months left to go to the election. The failure to avail their electoral blueprint is a sign of a structural weakness that is gnawing at the heart of the opposition party.

With all these glaring challenges weighing down on Chamisa and his team, chances of him winning the next election are next to none.