Zanu PF wins Zaka by-election after MDC boycott

Zanu PF wins Zaka by-election after MDC boycott

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By Staff Reporter

ZIMBABWE'S ruling Zanu PF party retained the Zaka East parliamentary seat in a weekend by-election boycotted by the two splinter groups of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Zanu PF's Rtd Brigadier General Livingstone Chineka polled 11 152, with Nicholas Shanga of the little-known United People's Party, coming a distant second with 1 117 votes. Lameck Batirai of the People's Democratic Party came third with 622 votes.

Officials say the voter turn-out only represented 27.1 percent of the registered voters, with only 13 480 people voting.

The Zaka East seat fell vacant following the death of Tinos Rusere in March this year.

Zimbabwe's state media hailed the by-election win as a "clear indication of the ruling party's supremacy in terms of grassroots support". The MDC boycott, said the state run Herald newspaper, was an attempt to avoid certain defeat.

"It also shows the ruling party's dominance in the province after it successfully defended its Chiredzi South seat in February, where both factions of the MDC, which failed to field in Zaka East, participated and were soundly thrashed," opined the Herald.

"What emerges is cowardice that is entrenched in the opposition camp. When they feel that they are going to be thrashed in polls, they do not participate. If their reasons for not participating are genuine, why don't they just boycott all the polls?"

The MDC groups said there was no point contesting in the by-election when parliament is set to be dissolved in the next few months ahead of general elections in early 2008.

Both MDC factions are also holding out for a comprehensive review of the country's electoral system. The MDC says a free and fair election is only possible if an independent electoral body is appointed to run elections and under a new constitution.

The opposition groups are banking on SADC-initiated talks between them and President Robert Mugabe's Zanu PF to bring about the reforms.

Political commentators, however, say it is too late for a new constitution to be drafted and adopted before next year's elections, and the MDC should now concentrate on trying to get a favourable outcome by influencing the content of the 18th Constitutional Amendment which will come before parliament shortly.
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