ZANU PF won all the three council by-elections held at the weekend in which Lovemore Madhuku’s National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) contested for the first time after it’s transformation into a political party. STAFF REPORTER
The elections were held in Masvingo’s Zaka Ward 2, Harare Ward 12 and Karoi Ward 10.
The polls may be insignificant in the political configuration of the country, but they showed that President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu PF party continues to eat into MDC-T’s urban strongholds.
“The results show that Zanu PF has retained the seats that were left vacant following the death of councillors and in addition, it has also managed to acquire the Harare municipality Ward 12 seat that had been won by MDC-T,” said the Zimbabwe Election Supervisory Network (Zesn), which observed the polls.
“Zanu PF has made inroads in places which were formerly MDC-T strongholds.”
Zesn said its observers reported a peaceful electoral process in all three wards.
However, there were a number worrying trends that were picked out such as the heavy deployment of police at polling stations in Harare.
There was also concern over assisted voters, which was common during last year’s disputed elections.
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“Zesn observed cases where people who had voted in the harmoniased election in these polling stations could not find their names on the voters’ roll and were, therefore, barred from voting,” the network said.
“This brings questions on which voters’ roll is being used for this by-election.
“Of concern was the procedure of showing the ballot paper to the presiding officer after casting a vote.
“This system was done away with using the Electoral Amendment Act of 2013 which prescribed that the voter did not have to show the seal to the presiding officer, but simply place their ballot paper in the box after voting.”
But it is the NCA’s poor showing that will be the talking point after the party‘s candidate failed to get at least 100 votes in Harare and Karoi where it fielded contested.
