Madhuku, Chikohora, Mwonzora enter presidential race

Harare (New Ziana) – Three presidential aspirants in the upcoming general election on Wednesday officially filed their nomination papers to contest in the polls, to be held on August 23, 2023.

Nomination courts for the election opened countrywide on Wednesday to register candidates contesting in the combined presidential, parliamentary and local government poll.

At the High Court in Harare, Prof. Lovemore Madhuku, leader of the opposition National Constitutional Alliance (NCA), and Trust Chikohora, headlining the Zimbabwe Coalition for Peace and Development party, were the first to confirm their presidential candidacy at the nomination court.

The two were soon followed by Douglas Mwonzora, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) party, who also officially filed nomination papers for his presidential bid.

Several parties are expected to file their nomination papers, but the main battle is expected to be between the ruling ZANU-PF party, and the biggest opposition Citizens Coalition for Change.

Until now, the presidential candidacies of Prof. Madhuku and Mwonzora was in doubt after they were allegedly disowned by their parties a few weeks ago.

Both the NCA and MDC-T said they had lost confidence in their leadership, citing several reasons, including failure to prepare adequately for the upcoming elections.

Speaking after confirming his candidature, Prof. Madhuku said raising US$20 000 needed to register his presidential bid was a big challenge, as was to raise fees for his party’s parliamentary aspirants.

As a result, the NCA only managed to file nominations for 10 parliamentary candidates, out of 210 seats in the lower chamber of the legislature.

In the last election in 2018, a total of 23 presidential candidates contested.

New Ziana