Source: SOUTHERN NEWS | Ex-minister claims ED can’t win free, fair poll – DailyNews Live
STAFF REPORTER 17 January 2018
BULAWAYO – Respected lawyer David Coltart has said Zanu PF will drop
parliamentary seats in the coming election as the revolutionary party
struggles to assert its authority under the new leadership of President
Emmerson Mnangagwa.
While Coltart appeared optimistic that the ruling party had far much
better chances to win the election, mostly due to the leadership
uncertainty in the main opposition party fuelled by MDC president Morgan
Tsvangirai’s health woes, he said Mnangagwa cannot win a free and fair
election.
“Mnangagwa will do well in Masvingo and Midlands provinces, I don’t think
he will do well in Matabeleland North and South,” Coltart said.
“He may battle to get the same number of votes in Mashonaland Central,
East and West but Manicaland is up for grabs, it’s hard to tell which way
it will go because there were strong G40 people and there were also strong
Mnangagwa people,” he said.
The former Education minister went on to suggest that the traditional
strong base support of the opposition in the urban centres has somehow
waned ever since Mnangagwa took over the presidency in November last year.
“The big question is what happens to the middle and working class who live
in the main cities Bulawayo and Harare. I think the MDC’s grip on those
cities has slipped and Mnangagwa is able to convince particularly young
voters that he can turn the economy around.
“He may get support from those areas. It seems to me that there are lots
of people, the working class and professionals are prepared to give
Mnangagwa a chance. So that means it may be difficult for Zanu PF to win
majority parliamentary seats,” he said.
Coltart said Tsvangirai’s failing health was a blessing to Mnangagwa but
was quick to dismiss People’s Rainbow Coalition (PRC) president Joice
Mujuru and Alliance of Peoples Agenda (APA) leader Nkosana Moyo as of no
match to the Zanu PF leader.
“Turning to the presidential election, because of the fact that the
opposition is in trouble given Tsvangirai’s health and given Joice
Mujuru’s and Nkosana Moyo’s relative silence, I think Mnangagwa has
probably a better chance of winning the presidential election than Zanu PF
has of winning an outright majority seats,” he said.
“As they say, a week is a long time in politics, there is a long way to
go, it maybe that a strong charismatic leader emerges from the opposition
or that Tsvangirai, as we all hope, sees a turnaround in his recovery and
starts a dramatic strong campaign.
“But generally, I think Mnangagwa will struggle to win a free and fair
election.”
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