MDC Alliance loses 90 council seats

Published: 20 June 2018

THE opposition MDC Alliance has failed to field candidates in at least 90 wards countrywide, giving President Emmerson Mnangagwa's Zanu PF a head-start ahead of next month's general elections.

MDC Alliance spokesperson Welshman Ncube confirmed the development yesterday.

"I cannot give you the figures off the top of my head, but we did not field candidates in just under a 100 wards. There are various reasons including individual candidates failing to provide up-to-date rate accounts and the confusion on the day of the nomination court as well as prior to it. In other areas we just messed up," Ncube said.

He added that the alliance had also fielded candidates in 209 out of the 210 contested parliamentary seats countrywide. Highly-placed MDC Alliance sources also said the opposition group also bungled the fielding of candidates in provincial councils with the most affected being Manicaland.

"We have fielded candidates in all but around 90 council wards countrywide. It is actually an improvement on the 2013 elections where as the MDC-T we could not have candidates in nearly 500 wards.

"However, it is still an astonishing failure we pride ourselves as a government-in-waiting and that the 2013 election had issues around the security of candidates which we do not have now.

This time its an internal matter that has to do with lack of organisation and divisions along factional lines especially related to the MDC-T component of the alliance," NewsDay heard.

The coalition led by Nelson Chamisa is seen as the only political outfit with an outside chance of upstaging President Emmerson Mnangagwa's Zanu PF in the July 31 poll.

However, internal discohesion and confusion among parties to the alliance has already resulted in its failure to field a candidate in Insiza North constituency.

Chamisa this week said his alliance would now support a Zapu candidate in Insiza North.
- newsday

Tags: Alliance,