Jonathan Moyo in, Mliswa out

Information Minister Jonathan Moyo won his Tsholotsho seat back in a one-sided affair while Temba Mliswa narrowly lost to Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front’s Keith Guzah in the most heavily contested of the 16 by-elections held yesterday.

Moyo polled 11 695 votes against Busani Ncube’s 91 and Getrude Sibanda’s 38.

Moyo first won the Tsholotsho seat in 2005 as an independent after he was kicked out of ZANU-PF and was re-elected in 2008 but lost the seat to Roselyn Nkomo of the Movement for Democratic Change in 2013.

The MDC factions did not contest any seats in the by-elections as they have vowed that they will not contest any elections until the government implements comprehensive electoral reforms.

In Hurungwe West Temba Mliswa lost to Keith Guzah of ZANU-PF polling 4 239 votes against Guzah’s 5 961.

There had been wide speculation that Mliswa would win the seat as he was reportedly more popular among the people than his counterpart, but Guzah’s victory shows that ZANU-PF is bigger than individuals.

Mliswa went to court to have the poll postponed because of intimidation of voters in the constituency but he lost the case because he had not given the other parties enough time to respond to his allegations.

It is not clear whether Mliswa will take the loss lightly as he has always been a rabble-rouser even as a member of ZANU-PF.

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