Zimbabwe gazettes presidential candidates for July polls

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The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) on Friday gazetted the 23 presidential candidates for the July 30 poll who registered when the nomination court sat on June 14.

The elections management body also gazetted chief election officers who will preside over the 210 National Assembly constituencies, the state-controlled Herald newspaper reported Saturday.

Among those who registered to contest the presidential election are President Emmerson Mnangagwa, main opposition leader Nelson Chamisa of the MDC Alliance, former Zimbabwe vice president Joice Mujuru and leader of the splinter MDC-T and former Deputy Prime Minister in Zimbabwe's 2009-2013 inclusive government, Thokozani Khupe.

Members of the People's Rainbow Coalition led by former Zimbabwean vice-President Joice Mujuru, gather for a presidential campaign meeting at a hall in Luveve, Bulawayo, June 16, 2018. /VCG Photo

Zimbabwe will hold presidential, parliamentary and local government elections on July 30 and Mnangagwa has promised to deliver a free, fair, transparent and credible election.

His government has invited Western observers to observe the polls for the first time in 16 years.

Mnangagwa, 75, replaced former president Robert Mugabe who resigned in November last year following a military intervention which ended his 37 years stay in power.

Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa attends the Africa CEO Forum as part of the panel on economic recovery in Abidjan, March 26, 2018. /VCG Photo

Meanwhile, preparations for the first post-Mugabe era election are going on smoothly with ZEC announcing Friday that printing of ballots for the polls will begin next week.

The electoral body said the printing of the ballots will be done by state-owned printers and in the presence of political parties, selected observers and civil society organizations.

Opposition parties and some international observers had been demanding greater transparency in the printing, storage and distribution of the ballots to quell suspicions of vote rigging and enhance credibility of the polls.

Members of the People's Rainbow Coalition led by former Zimbabwean vice-President Joice Mujuru, gather for a presidential campaign meeting at a hall in Luveve, Bulawayo, June 16, 2018. /VCG Photo

"We are going to invite contesting parties and independents to come and witness the process of the printing so that we deal with certain perceptions that we have had before, in particular to deal with the issues that we have had that the paper had elements of chromatography which allows the migration of an X from one particular candidate to another," said ZEC commissioner Qhubani Moyo.

(Cover: Zimbabwe's former vice-President Joice Mujuru addresses members gathered for a presidential campaign meeting at a hall in Luveve, Bulawayo, June 16, 2018. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency