Zimbabwe Ruling Party Records Early Electoral Gains

By Prince Kurupati

23 August 2023 is the date set aside as election day in Zimbabwe. On this day, all eligible voters in Zimbabwe will have the opportunity to choose the local council, House of Assembly and their preferred presidential candidate. Though it's just over a month before August 23, Zimbabwe’s ruling party has already secured some local council seats.

Following the closing of the nomination process by the country’s electoral body, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), it was revealed that there are several dozen wards where all opposition parties failed to field local council candidates. This, therefore, means that the ruling party Zanu (PF), which fielded candidates for all 1970 local council seats, is uncontested in some wards. Inadvertently, according to the country’s electoral law, it means that the uncontested party automatically wins the seats.

Several political commentators lamented the failure to field candidates in all wards by opposition parties as a major blunder as it gave Zanu (PF) an early lead. Taking much of the blame amongst the opposition parties, is the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) led by Nelson Chamisa. CCC is viewed as the main opposition party and the one to pose the greatest danger to the incumbent Emmerson Mnangagwa’s desire to seek a second term in office.

Owing to what it perceived as an unscrupulous plot by Zanu (PF) to sabotage its election campaign via a state security-linked company FAZ, CCC, in the lead-up to the nomination process embraced what it termed “strategic ambiguity”. Strategic ambiguity entails keeping all operations of the party secretive. As part of the strategic ambiguity policy, CCC also deliberately left it until the last day to file papers for its contesting candidates, something which is attributed to resulting in some wards remaining uncontested as time ran out before the nomination papers could be filed.

Also contributing to the failure of CCC failing to field candidates in all wards was its ‘primary election’ method, dubbed the consensus candidate selection model. This is a four-part model which relatively takes longer than the traditional primary election method. Owing to this, some candidates only received confirmation that they were successful the day before the closing of the nomination court, while others received confirmation on the closing day of the nomination court. Some of those who were confirmed as successful candidates were not prepared to undertake the process in a day.

Also bringing much joy to the ruling party Zanu (PF), is the issue of double candidates, which has plagued the main opposition party. Several wards and constituencies have double candidates representing the CCC party. While the CCC has claimed that some of those contesting under their party banner are frauds who fraudulently filed their papers, many of them have refused to withdraw hence meaning votes may be split between two candidates vying for the same party. This, in essence, gives Zanu (PF) the advantage in such wards and constituencies.

The failure to field candidates in some wards as well as the fielding of double candidates in other wards and constituencies, has led some political commentators to conclude that the CCC is administratively flawed, something which is the exact opposite of Zanu (PF), which is a well-oiled election machine. Political analyst Richard Mahomva said that this would prove to be decisive in Zanu (PF)’s favour come 23 August.

“The election campaign and the manifesto are born out of very rigorous research, born of absolute expression of the enduring aspirations of the people of Zimbabwe. With this determination, Zanu (PF) is consolidating power come August 23 because of its oiled structures and patriotic Zimbabweans”.