By Takudzwa Josiah
As the sun slowly sets on Zimbabwe, the political temperature is on the rise with the impending elections. Late in July or August, the country will go to the polls to vote for councillors, Members of Parliament, and the big one, the president.
However, the real question on everyone’s mind is how the political parties will go about selecting their candidates for the ballot paper.
The Citizen Coalition for Change (CCC) has made an interesting announcement that they will be adopting a “community candidate selection process” that seeks to ensure that the citizens have a say in who represents them.
CCC leader, Nelson Chamisa, has emphasized that the party will establish an independent body to handle candidate selection and to thoroughly vet them for security and integrity. He further clarified that party members will not be involved in the independent body responsible for vetting candidates.
On the other hand, the ruling Zanu PF party has opted to stick with its tested and proven method of primary elections. Political Commissar, Mike Bimha, explained that members of the party’s cells voted this past weekend in in-house elections, and that the candidates were thoroughly vetted before contesting in the primaries.
As is typical in every Zimbabwean election, a new political outfit has emerged, made up of six different parties that came together on March 16th, including the Coalition of Democrats (CODE), People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Rebuilding Zimbabwe Party (RZP), United Democracy Movement (UDM), United Democratic People’s Party (UDPP), and Straight Black Pride Zimbabwe Partnership (SBPZP).
According to Trust Chikohora, leader of the Zimbabwe Coalition for Peace and Development, the coalition will choose candidates through consensus, with the aim of selecting those with the best chance of winning. He emphasized that all parties, partners, and individuals will have a role to play in the process.
The MDC-T party has announced that it will adopt a consensus candidate selection model in addition to its primaries, which are set to take place before the end of March. Although the party will not abandon primary elections, it will prioritize the new method, where members agree on a specific candidate.
The fate of Zimbabwe’s political landscape remains uncertain as political parties adopt different approaches to selecting their candidates. Will the new approaches, such as those of the CCC and the Zimbabwe Coalition for Peace and Development, lead to a new era of democratic representation? Or will the tried and tested methods of primary elections prove to be the most effective? Only time will tell as Zimbabweans prepare for yet another election season.