18th January, 2018
Zimbabwe’s ruling African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU PF) party is confident that the 2018 general election will give it landslide victory.
Nick Mangwana, the party’s representative in Europe, told Sputnik on Thursday: “we are extremely confident.
“I mean, look, there is nothing the opposition is offering which we are not doing at the moment. Literally everything that the opposition could offer, ZANU PF is already doing.
“Add that to the fact that we are a very, very organized party and add that to the fact that the opposition is at its weakest at this moment. I actually see a landslide at this moment for ZANU PF.”
The ZANU PF representative expressed doubt that the election would take place in four to five months, since according to the Zimbabwean constitution the general election must be held no earlier than 30 days before the expiry of the five-year presidential term after the previous vote.
“Former president Mugabe …was inaugurated on Aug. 22, 2013 … So we are looking at elections between July and August … [Mnangagwa] cannot hold an early election.
“It’s unconstitutional and [Mnangagwa] is a constitutional man,” the official suggested.
After coming to power as a result of the November military takeover, President Emmerson Mnangagwa pledged that the upcoming elections would be free and fair.
Earlier in the day, Mnangagwa said the vote to elect a new leader and members of parliament would be held in four to five months, according to state-owned Herald newspaper.
The election will be the first since the November 2017 military takeover in the country, which resulted in the end of 37-year rule of Robert Mugabe.
One of the key promises in Mnangagwa’s inauguration speech was also to revive the country’s ruined economy by boosting the agricultural area and attracting foreign investment.
During Mugabe’s rule over the country, the elections were overshadowed by repeated violations of voting procedures and the suppression of the opposition.