BY SHARON BUWERIMWE
The 2023 presidential election is shaping out as a three-horse race between President Emmerson Mnangagwa, opposition leader Nelson Chamisa and independent Saviour Kasukuwere while the other eight candidates have so far largely remained invisible.
Eleven presidential candidates successfully filed their nomination papers last month.
Chamisa, the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) leader, is having another go at the presidency having lost with a narrow margin to Mnangagwa in the disputed 2018 election.
Kasukuwere, who fled into exile following the 2017 coup that toppled the late Robert Mugabe, has ruffled feathers in Zanu PF after he threw his hat into the ring to contest for the presidency.
Mnangagwa has been holding rallies across the country as he seeks to retain power. Even his ribbon-cutting events have been turned into mini rallies.
His main challenger Chamisa has, however, been facing challenges holding his rallies with police refusing to sanction most of the party’s events citing various reasons.
Just last week, police barred Chamisa from launching his election campaign in Bindura.
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Last week alone, as many as 10 CCC rallies were stopped.
Kasukuwere is facing a court challenge from a Zanu PF activist, Lovedale Mangwana, who has filed an application against his candidacy.
Mangwana approached the court seeking an order to declare a decision by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) to accept Kasukuwere’s nomination papers null and void.
The High Court ruled in his favour, but Kasukuwere appealed the ruling at the Supreme Court.
While Kasukuwere, Mnangagwa and Chamisa are emerging as frontrunners, eight other presidential candidates have been largely absent from the campaign trail.
Some said that they are being prevented from holding rallies by the police, while others claimed that they are simply not getting the same level of media attention as CCC and Zanu-PF.
The eight other presidential candidates are Joseph Makamba Busha, Trust Chikohora, Blessing Kasiyamhuru, Lovemore Madhuku, Wilbert Mubaiwa, Gwinyai Henry Muzorewa, Douglas Mwonzora and Harry Peter Wilson.
Busha, the FreeZim Congress leader, said he only started his campaign on Friday last week.
“Our campaigns are going just fine. We started last Friday and we did introduce our aspiring MPs at the media centre in Harare,” Busha told The Standard.
“We are supposed to have our press conferences every Monday.
“However, the fact that we have to apply to police to do campaigns during this election period is just so wrong.
“Those are the things that we want to challenge.”
Wilson, the leader of the Democratic Opposition Party (DOP), said he was not getting fair media coverage.
"We are however moving all over the country and preparing for the election,” Wilson said.
“We are not sitting back, we are getting ready.
“We are in a position to rule the country. We are ready to govern and give people jobs and get this country moving.”
On the other hand, Mwonzora’s MDC has not started its campaigns as they are still contesting the dismissal of 87 of its House of Assembly candidates.
The party lost its bid to force Zec to register 87 of its aspiring MPs who were rejected by the Nomination Court after failing to pay candidate fees.
Political analysts raised concern over the lack of activity by the other candidates.
Political analyst Rejoice Ngwenya said other nominated parties were just “bridesmaids.”
“Like we have always said, the real contest is between Zanu PF and CCC,” Ngwenya said.
“All others are just bridesmaids.
“Naturally, campaigning involves a lot of resources and it’s a very expensive venture.”
Analyst Effie Ncube said lack of funds and unfair media coverage were also to blame.
"Traditional political campaigns through rallies and door-to-door visits require a lot of resources that many political parties and candidates don't have,” Ncube said.
“Only Zanu PF has limitless resources as it can unlawfully tap into state resources to augment its budget.
“CCC has no such advantage, but it has the numbers from which it can raise the money to campaign.
“For other political parties, their relative lack of visibility is a result of a combination of lack of money and the fact that the media, both private and public, largely focuses on Zanu PF and CCC.
“Their invisibility has also been compounded no less by a restrictive operating environment which curtails their mobility and freedoms.”
Zimbabwe Election Advocacy Trust executive director Ignatious Sadziwa said the inactivity of other political participants during the peak of the electoral season was worrisome.
“The reasons are multifaceted and diverse,” he said.
“The marketing platform in the form of the state media is tilted in favour of the establishment (ruling party), thereby disadvantageous to opposition political parties who then resort to social media which is limited to a small fraction of the electorate.
“The political environment is also not conducive for opposition political parties as you have just witnessed that law enforcement agents have weaponized the law by banning political gatherings on dubious reasons.
“Funding constraints are also militating against political activities.”
Zimbabwe has a history of disputed elections.
In a recent report, the European Union Election Observation Mission said there were “serious concerns”about the lack of progress on electoral reforms.
