HARARE, August 2 (ANA) - Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu PF on Thursday said it would peacefully concede defeat to the MDC Alliance’s Nelson Chamisa in the event that the ruling party loses the presidential elections.
Zanu PF secretary for legal affairs, Paul Mangwana, told reporters in Harare that should his party lose, they would walk away and re-strategise for the next election.
This is after the ruling party has already won the majority of parliamentary seats in the elections and would want to complete a clean sweep by claiming victory in the much-coveted presidential polls.
“When you control two-thirds majority in Parliament, there is no way you can fail to win the presidential elections. So, I know we have won the presidential election, but we wait for the proper announcement of the results,” Mangwana said.
“Nevertheless, in the unlikely event that we lose the elections, we will still request our supporters to accept the verdict of the people and allow (Nelson) Chamisa to take over.”
He, however, said it was highly unlikely that Zanu PF would lose.
Mangwana’s remarks come in the wake of deadly violent protests by supporters of the opposition party, the MDC Alliance, who were calling on the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to immediately release presidential results.
The violence, which rocked the capital Wednesday, left several people dead, with several others nursing injuries and undergoing treatment to remove bullets lodged inside them.
The government has pushed the blame on the MDC Alliance for the violence, destruction of property and deaths, while the opposition party accuses ZEC and Zanu PF of conniving to rig elections.
The opposition supporters claim their party won convincingly.
According to the Electoral Act, results are supposed to be released within five days after voting and ZEC has until Saturday to release the results.
However, Mangwana is of the view that the ruling party has won despite the electoral management body not having announced the results, three days after the country’s first plebiscites post the Robert Mugabe era.
- African News Agency (ANA)
