Tsvangirai or no one else should replace Mugabe- Poll

Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai who turns 59 this month is the only candidate that should take over from President Robert Mugabe who turned 87 last month otherwise Mugabe should continue to lead the nation, an internet poll by The Insider shows.

The simple, unscientific poll asked readers whether President Mugabe should continue to lead the nation or not, and if not who should take over.

Readers were asked to choose from eight candidates: Tsvangirai, Vice-President Joyce Mujuru, Vice-President John Nkomo, Finance Minister Tendai Biti, Defence Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa, Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn leader Simba Makoni, Zimbabwe African People’s Union leader Dumiso Dabengwa, and ditched Movement for Democratic Change leader Arthur Mutambara. They also had a choice to state that none of the people mentioned were suitable.

Tsvangirai had polled 87 votes out of 142 by yesterday morning, beating all the other candidates by a very wide margin. Fifteen votes said none of those mentioned should take over while Mugabe himself polled 13 votes to continue in office.

Biti polled 9 votes beating Mnangagwa who polled six, followed by Makoni with 5, Dabengwa with 4, and Mujuru with 3. Nkomo and Mutambara did not get a single vote.

While the poll might not be indicative of the situation in the country, it is a reflection of the thinking in the diaspora as Zimbabweans outside the country have greater access to the internet and rely on it for information.

Internet access within Zimbabwe is still very low and usage is estimated at only 11.4 percent.

An analysis of visitors to The Insider website shows that during the period in question most of the visitors were in the UK followed by Zimbabwe, South African and the United States.

The visitors from the UK were more than the visitors from Zimbabwe, South Africa and the United States combined.

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