via MDC to boycott by-elections The Zimbabwean 14 January 2015
The MDC-T and the joint UMDC (Tendai Biti’s Renewal Team and Welshman Ncube’s party) have warned that they will boycott the March 27 by-elections if Zanu (PF) and ZEC fail to implement reforms enshrined in the new constitution.
The by-elections will be held in Mt Darwin and Chirumanzu-Zibagwe constituencies following President Robert Mugabe’s proclamation issued this week. The previous MPs, Joice Mujuru and Emmerson Mnangagwa, lost the seats when they were separately appointed to the presidium as is provided by the law.
However, it now looks set that Zanu (PF) will not have strong opposition at the polls and will likely retain the seats following threats by the MDC-T and UMDC that they will shun the exercise.
“The MDC-T will not participate in any by-elections unless electoral reforms are carried out by the ZEC and other relevant organs of the state,” said the party’s spokesman Obert Gutu.
“We are still being denied equal and unfettered access to the public electronic and print media. Traditional leaders are being abused by Zanu (PF) to ensure that MDC-T supporters in rural areas are not allowed to hold meetings. There is a lot of direct and indirect intimidation of MDC-T supporters in both the rural and some urban areas – particularly in high density suburbs,” said Gutu.
Jacob Mafume, spokesman for the new UMDC, said “We will not dignify this process with our participation. To call this an election would be to mislead the people of Zimbabwe. Zanu (PF) are the spirit mediums of rigging of elections and so it will be actually waste of time going for this elections without the necessary reforms that we have always spoken about,” he said.
COMMENTS
You the opposition now have the opportunity to ridicule this regime . Shout out loud to the region and others stressing this. Otherwise if Bob gets away with this shame , you will regret it later.