… bemoans lack of youth vote
Melinda Kusemachibi
Labor Economists and African Democrats (LEAD) candidate in the March 26 by-elections has bemoaned lack of meaningful participation by youth in the electoral processes and expressed gratitude to the 21 votes she got which she ‘treasures the most’.
LEAD candidate Everjoy Chidindi (22) got the going tough as she succumbed to defeat by Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC)’s Richard Musekiwa in Masvingo urban ward 7.
Chidindi said she is very happy with the results she got as a young woman.
“The elections were fair and I am very much happy with the results. Personally 21 votes were fair considering that many youths did not vote, so I treasure those 21 people who voted for me for a start and I am happy because I barely campaigned as most of the times I was at school and I just came back for a week mobilizing people so 21 is a good start for me.
“As for 2023, yes I am going to participate again,” said Chidindi.
However, LEAD president Linda Masarira issued a statement that her party accepted the results though she had some reservations on the manner in which the campaigns were held.
“From LEAD, we accepted the results even though the pre-electoral period was marred by a lot of irregularities. This is because together with other political players we had to stand guard of ballot processes and securing safety of our votes during the process,” said Masarira.
She also added that the elections were not free and fair.
“The elections were not free, neither were they fair nor credible because the responsible institution short-changed both the voter and political players. Failure is a necessary step towards success.
“The lessons we learnt in the by-elections are very valuable to us as a party and we would not have learnt if we had not attempted to participate in the elections. It is not the size of dog in the fight that matters most that deals a killer blow. Bigger is not always necessarily better,” said Masarira.
She said that they had assigned a team of five to research on questions they have raised.
“Whilst others are celebrating, we have assigned five teams on the ground to do research on: why are people not going to vote enmasse? Why does this apathy cut across all divides? How do we restore confidence in the electoral process to the electorate? How do we ignite these dormant votes to our advantage? What do we lack that can strengthen our cause and struggle?” added Masarira.
In the run up to the polls, Chidindi at one point had to seek for the intervention of Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to reprimand Zanu PF candidate Prosper Dohwai who the former accused of abusing her during the campaign trail as Dohwai reportedly abused her in a WhatsApp group.
CCC scooped all the four vacant seats in Masvingo Urban ward 4 Aleck Tabe and Rocky Kamuzonda ward 3 will be first timers in council whilst in ward 7, Richard Musekiwa retained his post as he won with 1342 votes over Zanu-PF’s Prosper Dohwai who got 490 votes and MDC-Alliance’s Gertrude Chuma got 43 votes.
In ward 5, Daniel Mberikunashe managed to retain his post by 568 votes with Zanu-PF Hakinstone Chimwai getting 359 votes and MDC-Alliance’s Ephanos Makiwa getting 30 votes.
