The Nelson Chamisa led MDC Alliance has begun training its polling agents to ensure they are well versed with the voting process ahead of the 2023 national elections.
In the last election, the opposition party contested the outcome at the Constitutional Court arguing that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) had colluded with Zanu PF to manipulate the election results in favour of the incumbent, President Emmerson Mnangagwa who garnered 50.8 percent against Nelson Chamisa’s 44.3 percent.
The court ruled that President Mnangagwa lawfully won the poll.
With the 2023 elections beckoning, the party says it is coming up with strategies to mitigate against rigging.
Responding to questions from CITE, MDC-Alliance National Deputy spokesperson, Gift Ostallos Siziba acknowledged that securing votes is important and the party had taken steps to mitigate against rigging.
“The first thing we have done as the MDC Alliance is to do a scientific audit of the 2018 election which gave us the key strategic issues of where we did well and those we didn’t. In the last election, we communicated publicly and with our party that to secure the vote meant making sure we have a high turnout,” he said.
“We are aiming to have six million votes, Zanu PF is targeting five million. At the level of the conceptual framework of how to run the elections, we have defeated Zanu PF already.”
The deputy spokesperson highlighted MDC Alliance it had taken a leaf from the recently held elections in neighbouring countries, particularly in places where people were dealing with dictatorships.
“We have made sure that we have all agents deployed and our focus is in rural areas. We know that Zanu’s menu of manipulation includes harvest of fear, intimidation, election fraud through V11s and manipulation of the vote counting process. To deal with the question of the harvest of fear and patronage, we have to make sure that we deploy all agents across the country,” he said.
“We have begun the process of training agents across the country for the next election because we want to leave no stone unturned in terms of counting of the ballot. We have to have the result of the election at our fingertips.”
Siziba claimed Zanu PF is scared of the opposition and that is why it was employing crude tactics to destroy its rivals.
“Our electoral preparedness strategy is far ahead of Zanu PF and this is the reason why Zanu wants the MDC to be banned. In fact, we are a banned political organisation because they are stopping us from holding meetings, they militarily took our headquarters, they have taken money that belongs to the party according to the Political Finance Act,” he said.
“So the organisation is a banned political party but we are operating in this military environment and under an authoritarian tutelage but we are prepared for the next election. That’s why Zanu has done everything to make sure that we don’t go and meet with the people particularly in rural areas.”
Siziba also indicated meeting people in rural areas was part of their election strategy and the party would not be deterred.
“This is just the beginning of our election strategy in rural areas. We are very clear and precise that in everything we do, we must fit into the electoral process, which is defending the ballot, securing and making sure that we have a democratic breakthrough in our country,” he summed.
