By Staff Reporter

ZANU PF first secretary, President Emmerson Mnangagwa has officially announced the ruling party will hold primary elections next week in preparation for harmonised elections expected between July and August.

Addressing an ordinary session of the Politburo in Harare Thursday, Mnangagwa said the roadmap for the primaries would soon be announced by the party’s political commissar, Mike Bimha.

“We as Zanu PF will begin internal primary elections from next week. Our commissar Dr Mike Bimha will give the programme,” Mnangagwa said.

With young turks and female candidates bouyed by the quota systems yearning to take up influential posts, fierce fights are expected prompting the Zanu PF leader to plead for preparations to be conducted in a fair and transparent manner.

Primary polls will be held according to the new delimited boundaries, a development that will allow Zanu PF to gauge its strength ahead of the harmonised elections which pit candidates against the largest opposition, Citizens’ Coalition for Change (CCC).