The primary elections were scheduled for March 18 but were
later on postponed as the party was overwhelmed with a large number of
candidates who wanted to represent it in the forthcoming general elections.
A total of 2 858 Curriculum Vitaes were submitted, with
99,9 percent of the aspiring candidates making it through the vetting process.
Midlands province alone has a total of 1 429 CVs while
Bulawayo has the lowest with 85 CVs submitted.
A number of candidates in the Midlands province sailed
through uncontested.
Party cell registers will be used as the voters’ roll,
while party district centres will be used as voting centres.
The party has already deployed Politburo members who will
announce the names of successful candidates and monitor the election process in
all of the country’s 10 provinces.
Those deployed are Cdes Elifas Mashaba (Bulawayo); Charles
Tavengwa (Harare); Lovemore Matuke (Masvingo); Patrick Chinamasa (Manicaland);
Kenneth Musanhi (Mashonaland Central); Mike Bimha (Mashonaland East);
Christopher Mutsvangwa (Mashonaland West); Obert Mpofu (Matabeleland North);
Richard Ndlovu (Matabeleland South) and Simbarashe Mumbengegwi (Midlands
Province).
Addressing journalists in Harare yesterday, Zanu PF
National Political Commissar Cde Bimha said polling would start at 7am and
close at 4pm.
“President Mnangagwa who is the party’s First Secretary has
directed that Zanu PF primary elections be held on March 25, 2023,” said Cde
Bimha.
Names of successful candidates who will contest in the
primaries will be announced in their provinces by designated Politburo members.
Cde Bimha said the Politburo members would also give
details of how the entire process would be conducted in terms of deployment of
presiding officers, ballot boxes, ballot papers, and the counting and
displaying of the results.
The Politburo sat on Monday and went through all the
reports, province by province and one by one.
Former opposition party members who are contesting for
National Assembly slots are Cdes Tongai Matutu and Simon Chidakwa among others.
“What is also of interest is that a decision was made by
the Politburo to accept and recommend former members of the MDC or Citizen
Coalition for Change who have recently come forward as returnees to the party,”
said Cde Bimha.
“The decision was made by the Politburo that any former MDC
or CCC member willing to contest in the primary elections for a local authority
position and House of Assembly are free to do so. However, at the moment it was felt that it is
too early to allow them to contest at Senatorial level.”
Among those disqualified was Harare Provincial Commissar
Cde Kudakwashe Damson, who allegedly beat up Zimbabwe Electoral Commission
officials who were on duty conducting voter education in Epworth recently.
Yesterday, all provinces held Provincial Co-ordinating
Committee meetings where senior Politburo members from the respective provinces
announced the names of all candidates who have been successful towards
participating in primary elections.
There will be various levels of authority to conduct these
elections. There is a Constituency Command Centre, Administrative District
Command Centre, Provincial Command Centre and National Command Centre based at
the party headquarters.
“As elections are being conducted, normally we also have
hitches here and there. We also have people who have complaints, and there will
be an ad-hoc tribunal to receive these complaints.
“So whoever feels they have been treated unfairly has every
right to lodge a complaint and they will be attended to well before the results
are announced,” Cde Bimha said.
The results of the elections will be displayed at the
polling stations and also conveyed to the Administrative District Command
Centre, Provincial Command Centre and National Command Centre.
It is only the National Command Centre which will announce
official results. The party has already set 87 000 cells that have been
verified, reaching a total of 4.5 million voters.
Zanu PF has set a target of 5 million votes for the 2023
harmonised elections. Herald
0 comments:
Post a Comment