The ruling Zanu PF party has retained two local authority seats after its candidates beat Citizens Coalition for Change opponents in by-elections held on Saturday.
In a tweet, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) said Simon Nyazenga of Zanu PF beat CCC’s Taurai Artwell Tichiwangani to land the seat of councilor for Ward 27 in Nyanga.
Nyazenga amassed 376 votes while Tichiwangani got 123 in a by-election in which there was a high number of assisted voters. According to ZEC, the bye-election recorded a 53.2% turnout.
In Mberengwa’s Ward 15, Nkonzo Albenias of Zanu PF, who got 756 votes beat CCC’s Conias Dhongijena. The latter got 165 votes.
The by-elections were held in accordance with Section 121 A of the Electoral Act (Chapter 2:13) following the death of the incumbent councillors for Mberengwa Ward 15, Ravasingadi Zhou, of Zanu PF and Collins Matongo of the same party in Nyanga’s Ward 27.
The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), which deployed six static observers in Mberengwa Ward 15 and Nyanga Ward 27 as well as observers at the Ward Collation Centres and a roving team to the local authority by-elections, said high numbers of assisted voters on account of illiteracy and visual impairment induced by old age were observed at some polling stations.
In a statement, ZESN said, “For instance, in Mberengwa Ward 15 by 11:00 hours, 24 voters had been assisted at Ruzengwe polling station; 19 at Chegato Secondary School polling station; nine (9) at Magavakava Primary School polling station and 14 at Rubweruchena Tent polling station due to illiteracy. In Nyanga Ward 27 at Raudzi Primary School polling station, 1 voter was assisted and 5 voters were assisted at Nyanzou Primary School polling station.’
ZESN further noted that some people were turned away because their names were not on the voters’ roll or they could not produce valid identification documents in both by-elections.”
