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Herald Reporters

In a show of a deep-rooted democratic culture, the revolutionary Zanu PF party conducted nationwide peaceful and transparent primary elections ahead of the March 26 by-elections, an act the party’s political commissar Cde Mike Bimha said should be emulated by all political parties in the country.

Teams deployed by The Herald across all the country’s 10 provinces reported that voting for candidates who will represent the ruling party, both in the local authority and national assembly polls were conducted peacefully with a few glitches in the capital city Harare where voting started an hour late.

The massive voter turnout across all the provinces was a clear indicator of the party’s grassroots popularity and a precursor of what to come in the by-elections.

The Herald crews witnessed long queues at a number of polling stations across the country.

In Harare voting started mid-morning, with voters queuing to cast their vote.

Ms Moreblessing Dzvuke who cast her vote in Harare Central expressed satisfaction with the election process.

“I am really happy to cast my vote here. There are no hiccups. The election process is being conducted smoothly with no incidents of violence. We are happy with the democratic process initiated by President Mnangagwa under the Second Republic,” said Ms Dzvuke.

Mr Allen Maromo of Mufakose said the voting exercise was conducted smoothly.

“Voters checked their names on the voters roll according their cell registers, which shows high level of transparency. I am happy that though the election process was delayed people managed to cast their votes”

Giving an update of the Zanu PF primary election conducted yesterday in regards to House of Assembly as well as councillors positions in local authorities, Cde Bimha said most polling stations were rounding up voting with results expected to be displayed at the voting centres in due course.

He said the party was satisfied with the progress made in the voting exercise across the country. Last night most provinces were rounding up voting.

“I am pleased to report that our elections have gone on very well. Our people have responded very well in terms of exercising their right to vote and we will be monitoring the process from now onwards,” he said.

The command centre has been set up at the party headquarters to receive the results from all the polling stations.

“The command centre here at head office has been activated and we will be monitoring the process of vote counting and attend to any problems that can arise. We are happy that we have senior people manning the provinces. We have Politburo members, Central Committee members and directors who are also assisting in administering the election process,” said Cde Bimha.

The results will be displayed at the polling stations for transparency purposes

“As per practice, when voting and counting is completed the results will be displayed at the polling stations so that people who have participated can have a feedback of their exercise. They will know at their polling centre, who has won and who has not made it.

“It is very important because that polling centre services a given electorate. It’s important for that electorate to know how they have performed.  That is the transparency that we want so that the people exercise their rights are observed,” said Cde Bimha.

The party has deployed polling agencies at each and every polling station to monitor the polls.

“We do have polling agents at all polling stations who should also witness the counting of the votes and also testify that the counting was done orderly and in a transparent manner. Once that is done then the results will  be communicated to the centre in that given area, and finally they will come to the command centre.”

The results will be confirmed and endorsed by the party leadership.