ZANU PF gains ground in unchartered territory
Hosia Mviringi
The ruling party has, for the first time in many elections, registered itself as a serious contender for political popularity in urban centres.
The just-ended by-elections on 26 March 2022, presented a rare chance for the resurgent ZANU PF Party to measure the relevance of it’s socio-economic programmes to the urban dwellers.
Special attention was on the 28 National Assembly seats that fell vacant as a result of mass recalls by the MDC Alliance, natural death and a recall by ZANU PF.
Going into the elections, ZANU PF had a comfortable 145 seats out of the 210 Parliamentary seats, which gave the party a comfortable two thirds majority in the National Assembly.
This meant that the party was not under pressure to win anything in these elections, yet the party put its all effort in the campaigns because they took it as a chance to flex its muscle to see how it would fare come 2023.
The just-ended elections, whose arena was mainly in urban centres and growth points, were mostly to replace CCC members of the National Assembly and Local Authorities who had been recalled by their sponsoring MDC-Alliance Party when they broke away to form a new party.
ZANU PF boldly entered the race with a clear mandate to measure the effectiveness of their human interest programs which are meant to positively impact day to day human lives.
Apparently, as it stands, ZANU PF are the biggest winners in the elections having managed to snatch two National Assembly sears and more than 10 Local Authority seats from the opposition.
Of greater joy to the ruling party is the dramatic recovery of the party in Binga North where the party has managed to narrow it’s electoral loss from a high of 12000 votes in 2018 down to a difference of 2000 votes on 26 March, 2022.
This is a confirmation that people are responding positively to the various people centered life changing projects being pursued by the government.
Of the 19 seats won by CCC, cumulative votes for the party were 105,402, while ZANU PF managed 51,864 votes, giving a difference of 53628 votes, while in the 9 sears won by ZANU PF the cumulative tally for the Party is 76,355 while CCC party managed 24,307, giving a difference of 52,228 votes.
In all constituencies, including the CCC strongholds, total number of votes cast for CCC were 129,799, retaining 19 seats in the process, while ZANU PF polled 128,399 votes, including in CCC Strongholds, winning 9 seats in the process, making a paltry 1400 vote difference.
These figures are a source of joy a pride for ZANU PF given the fact that this battle was fought in the CCC citadel.
The good news for ZANU PF is that in addition to narrowing the gap in terms of real number of votes for the party in relation to the main opposition parties in urban areas, the party has made tremendous inroads into the urban centres, eating a big chunk of opposition CCC support base.
Yet the bad news for opposition CCC is that, while ZANU PF continues to make inroads into urban areas, the CCC Party is yet to make serious inroads into ZANU PF strongholds, which are mainly the rural constituencies where more than 70 per cent population live, judging by the very low number of votes garnered by the CCC in those constituencies won by ZANU PF.
This should serve as a wake up call for the opposition parties to abandon their toxic policies which seem to thrive on the suffering of people through their Jecha mantra which is design to present themselves as a viable alternative.
The big surprise wins by ZANU PF serves as a simple message to the ruling party to keep working hard on the ground to endear itself with the urban voters.
It is also a vindication to the ruling party which has mounted a serious communication campaign to sensitise the people of the value of government programs.
The strong message to the CCC is that come 2023, a lot should be changed including their main selling point which capitalises on the suffering of the people.
They should become a solutions party with practical steps and tangible programs meant to change people’s lives for the better.
In conclusion, it is evident from the analysis that ZANU PF has emerged the biggest winner having managed to inflict a dent on the opposition support base, snatching away and adding two Parliamentary seats while adding numerous Local Authority seats which previously belonged to opposition.
Having made a stubborn foray into opposition territories while defending it’s own turf makes ZANU PF the biggest winner in the just-ended by-elections.
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