SW Radio Africa news - The Independent Voice of Zimbabwe
The leaders of Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn (MKD) and ZANU Ndonga on Monday officially announced that they have made a pre-election deal to rally behind MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai in the presidential race.
Under the terms of the pact both the MKD and ZANU Ndonga will campaign for Tsvangirai in his third-time bid to oust ZANU PF’s Robert Mugabe from power.
The MDC-T will in turn support Simba Makoni’s (MKD) and Reketai Semwayo’s (ZANU Ndonga) parliamentary candidatures in Makoni central and Chipinge central in Manicaland province.
Monday’s announcement in Harare, which was attended by Tsvangirai, follows that of the MDC and ZAPU’s who announced their alliance in Bulawayo on Friday ahead of the 31st July elections.
Makoni exuded confidence that the MDC-T, MKD and ZANU Ndonga coalition will win the upcoming election in the first round and called on all Zimbabweans to maintain peace as the country enters this critical polling phase.
Makoni, a former SADC executive secretary and Finance Minister in ZANU PF, confirmed that they had set their sights on a grand coalition which would have included the MDC and ZAPU, but they had failed to agree on the modalities.
There is hope the parties will use the time between now and the election date to work out a unified front.
Analysts believe that Mugabe and ZANU PF stand no chance against a united coalition. On Friday we had heard from a credible source that a grand coalition, with the five political parties agreeing to field just one presidential candidate, was expected to be announced this week. But this was vehemently denied by Ncube who told us this was a ‘lie.’
Dumisani Muleya, a respected journalist and editor of the weekly Zimbabwe Independent wrote on his Facebook page on Monday that ‘if Tsvangirai and Ncube can’t agree on a grand coalition, perhaps they only need a presidential election deal. It’s in their interest.’
The pact between ZAPU, led by Dumiso Dabengwa, and Welshman Ncube’s MDC, will see candidates from the two political parties working together and supporting each other during campaigns. But they have not yet agreed on who should be their presidential candidate.
Dabengwa told journalists last week that discussions for the formation of the alliance started in December, with the two parties forming technical teams to look into the modalities.
Speaking at a Harare hotel Makoni said they hoped their electoral pact can bring Zimbabweans together and help them overcome their challenges. For this reason he said they had entered into a coalition in a bid to garner the majority of votes in three weeks time.