HARARE – ZANU PF National Political Commissar Mike Bimha held a press conference on the progress of the party’s election processes revealing that the primary elections for Saturday have been postponed.
Bimha announced on Friday in Harare that the party had completed the process of collecting verified cell registers from all provinces, which will serve as the voters’ roll during elections.
The submission of CVs to the provinces was also completed, and the response has been interesting so far.
Bimha noted that the security department had engaged in vetting all the CVs, and the work had just been completed, with a final inspection underway. The adhoc committee had also met and sat on various complaints that were lodged.
Bimha emphasized that the national elections directorate would meet to make recommendations, but the Politburo had the final say.
He said once the Politburo meets and approves candidates, they will be notified. All the stationary and voting materials are in place, and the National Electorate Commission would meet the following day.
Bimha acknowledged that the overwhelming response to submissions for the ZANU PF primaries meant that elections could not be held on Saturday, as anticipated.
“We had anticipated that by Saturday we would have elections however because of the overwhelming response it was not possible because of these processes that were supposed to be considered,” he said.
He noted that in some areas, there were ten candidates for one position, and thus, thorough work had to be done.
“In some areas we had 10 candidates for one position and therefore you have to do a thorough work,” he disclosed.
Bimha, however, assured that everything should be ready by Sunday, with the Politburo meeting on Monday to consider all the submissions that had been made.
“We believe everything should be ready by Sunday, thereafter on Monday, Politburo will meet to consider all the submissions that have been made. Once Politburo meets and approves candidates will be notified.
“All the stationary and voting material are in place. We wait final say from Politburo on Monday. I can’t tell the day but it will be after politburo,” added Bimha.
Bimha expressed satisfaction that women and youth were also contesting, and the election promised to be an interesting one.
He noted that Senatorial elections typically did not have many activities, and there were no contestations.
The veteran ZANU PF official, however, cautioned candidates against violence and encouraged peaceful engagements.
Regarding allegations of vote-buying, Bimha urged those with complaints to submit them to the adhoc committee set up to attend to them.
He also stated that candidates who engaged in violence would not be allowed to stand, and the party would encourage peaceful engagements.
Bimha concluded the press conference by stating that while he did not have the number of uncontested cases at the moment, Senatorial elections mostly had one candidate, while the majority of MP and Local Authority positions had more than one candidate.
He looked forward to addressing the nation once the party knew who was contesting in which constituency.
