Eleven wanted to be president

Eleven candidates, each representing his own party, wanted to contest the presidential elections at yesterday’s nominations but six were disqualified.

Although Zimbabwe wants to be the first country to have equal representation between men and women, none of the candidates was a woman.

Those who qualified were;

• Morgan Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change-T,
• Robert Mugabe of the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front
• Welshman Ncube of the Movement for Democratic Change-N
• Kisinoti Mukwazhe of the Zimbabwe Development Party, and
• Dumiso Dabengwa of the Zimbabwe African People’s Union.

Those who were disqualified were:

• Mutumwa Mawere of the Zimbabwe Movement for Democracy
• Langton Towungana, an independent who contested in 2008
• Gibbs Paul Gotora of the Zimbabwe Organised Open Party
• Anslem Karimupfumbi of Rusununguko United People’s Party
• Joseph Bushu Makamba of Free Zimbabwe Congress, and
• Reverend Gerald Mubaira of Multiracial Christian Democrats.

There were nearly 30 political parties in Zimbabwe at the last count.

The only big name not in the line up was that of Simba Makoni of the Mavambo-Kusile-Dawn who said they were going as a united opposition.

Makoni got 8 percent of the total vote in the 2008 elections, which some people argued would have given Mugabe an outright victory if Makoni had not split the vote.

Three of the five parties that were talking about a united front fielded candidates. Only the Zimbabwe African National Union-Ndonga did not field a candidate.

There has always been a feeling that Makoni has not really left ZANU-PF, maybe that was the reason the other parties ditched him.

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