Harare, (New Ziana) – Voting in several parliamentary and local government by-elections opened without a hitch at 7 AM countrywide on Saturday, a senior national electoral official said.
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission chief elections officer, Utoile Silaigwana told New Ziana voting was going on smoothly and peacefully, with no glitches experienced anywhere.
He said ballot papers and other voting materials, and crews were deployed in full in each of the participating constituencies on Friday in readiness for Saturday’s vote.
“I can confirm that polling stations opened on time at 7AM everywhere, and the process is calm and peaceful, and we encourage voters and all stakeholders to remain so,” Silaigwana said.
“We were fully ready for the by-elections by yesterday (Friday), with all the voting materials and personnel involved deployed in each of the constituencies,” he added.
All the by-elections were occasioned by the opposition Citizens Coalition Change’s (CCC) recall of some of its legislators from parliament and local government councils two months ago.
In making the recalls, party secretary general, Sengeso Tshabangu accused the parliamentarians of having been unduly nominated to run on the CCC election ticket in the August general elections.
He has recalled, in batches, scores of CCC legislators from both the lower and upper houses of parliament, and Saturday’s by-elections are the first of many to come in coming months.
The recalls are widely seen as a tussle for power in the CCC between party leader Nelson Chamisa, and other disgruntled top officials in the opposition movement.
In Saturday’s by-elections, Tshabangu has barred – through the courts – aspiring legislators aligned to Chamisa from running, a move that has deepened the political crisis in the party.
As a result of the infighting engulfing the CCC, the party surrendered the Tafara-Mabvuku constituency in Harare to the ruling Zanu PF party uncontested.
Elsewhere, Zanu PF was also widely expected to wrestle some seats from the CCC in the weekend elections, taking full advantage of the crisis that has riven the opposition party.
New Ziana
