Harare (New Ziana) – The ruling ZANU-PF party raced ahead of rivals on Thursday in the upcoming general elections after it bagged over 20 local government seats uncontested in the Midlands Province.
Party officials said there could be more seats won uncontested in the province at the end of an exercise tallying the results of Wednesday’s registration of candidates running in the August 23 elections.
Nomination courts sat on Wednesday countrywide to register aspiring presidential, parliamentary and local government representatives for the polls.
In the Midlands Province, ZANU-PF said it had by Thursday morning bagged over 20 local government seats unopposed in various wards, including Vungu and Gokwe South.
Officials said the tally of uncontested council seats won in the province was likely going to rise when the party finishes assessing Wednesday’s nomination filings in the whole region.
There were unconfirmed reports in other parts of the country on Thursday that ZANU-PF, which has been in power uninterrupted since independence in 1980, had also won local government seats uncontested.
Officials said the early outcome of the poll was a good pointer to the party’s likely performance in the election in August, which will mainly pit it against the Citizens Coalition for Change, the country’s biggest opposition group.
New Ziana
