{"id":15906,"date":"2019-11-13T21:10:31","date_gmt":"2019-11-13T19:10:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/zimbabwe\/?p=15906"},"modified":"2019-11-13T21:10:31","modified_gmt":"2019-11-13T19:10:31","slug":"chamisa-drops-ed-legitimacy-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/chamisa-drops-ed-legitimacy-challenge","title":{"rendered":"Chamisa drops ED legitimacy challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"

NELSON Chamisa<\/a>\u2019s opposition MDC has dropped a key demand questioning the legitimacy of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, paving the way for possible talks between the chief political rivals to resolve Zimbabwe\u2019s political and economic crises.<\/p>\n

The opposition party has refused to recognise Mnangagwa\u2019s presidency since the disputed polls of July 31 last year, and accused the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) of poll theft.<\/p>\n

Chamisa (pictured) has often referred to Mnangagwa as an illegitimate president.<\/p>\n

But Mnangagwa has remained resolute that any talks must be predicated on the opposition
\nrecognising his poll victory.<\/p>\n

The issue became a stumbling block and scuppered numerous efforts to bring the two protagonists together.<\/p>\n

However, when the MDC\u2019s national executive council (Nec) met at the weekend, it released a statement that did not refer to the legitimacy of Mnangagwa and, instead, concentrated on electoral reforms only.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe party reiterated its commitment to a sincere, honest and credible dialogue process,\u201d the communiqu\u00e9 read.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dialogue must unlock the impediments that have stood in the way of a credible dialogue process, under a mutually agreed convener, which must focus on a comprehensive reform agenda to ensure the security and freedoms of citizens as well as ensuring a free, fair and credible election that must yield a people\u2019s government.\u201d<\/p>\n

An insider said the party had realised that it would not get any traction if it kept pushing on the legitimacy issue and attempting to remove Mnangagwa from power through demonstrations, leading to a focus on electoral reforms.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s now more than a year since Mnangagwa got into power through a sham election, according to us, but he holds the army, police and support of regional leaders,\u201d the insider said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDemonstrations have been violently crushed and our people injured, so we are now focusing on ensuring that we win important electoral reforms than remove him before 2023 ends. The economy is most likely to achieve
\nthat.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Chamisa\u2019s spokesperson Nkululeko Sibanda yesterday claimed the party had won the legitimacy battle.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have won the legitimacy battle. Mnangagwa himself admits that he is illegitimate and talking to Polad is his cheap attempt to buy legitimacy. The economy speaks to his illegitimacy. Nobody wants to invest or deal with an illegitimate leader. Even South Africa can\u2019t help Zimbabwe financially, so we have not backed down,\u201d Sibanda said.<\/p>\n

The MDC is focusing more on electoral reforms.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe party\u2019s continued participation (and poor showing) in by-elections has exposed the dire need for prudent electoral reforms. A compromised election management system, the murkiness around voting material, the abuse of traditional leaders and the use of food as a political weapon continues to be rampant in the countryside, justifying the need for genuine electoral reforms,\u201d the resolution read.<\/p>\n

The MDC will now table its own electoral Bill in Parliament, a few weeks after Zimbabwe Elections Support Network (Zesn) submitted a draft electoral Bill to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Jacob Mudenda, pushing for comprehensive electoral reforms.<\/p>\n

The Zesn Bill seeks to give more powers to Zec and wean it off the Justice ministry in an effort to make it more independent from political players.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NELSON Chamisa\u2019s opposition MDC has dropped a key demand questioning the legitimacy of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, paving the way for possible talks between the chief political rivals to resolve Zimbabwe\u2019s political and economic crises. The opposition party has refused to recognise Mnangagwa\u2019s presidency since the disputed polls of July 31 last year, and accused the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":8594,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8,12],"tags":[113,34,88,395],"class_list":{"0":"post-15906","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-head-lines","9":"category-policy","10":"tag-chamisa","11":"tag-emmerson-mnangagwa","12":"tag-mdc","13":"tag-presidency"},"yoast_head":"\nChamisa drops ED legitimacy challenge - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"NELSON Chamisa\u2019s opposition MDC has dropped a key demand questioning the legitimacy of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, paving the way for possible\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/chamisa-drops-ed-legitimacy-challenge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chamisa drops ED legitimacy challenge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"NELSON Chamisa\u2019s opposition MDC has dropped a key demand questioning the legitimacy of President Emmerson Mnangagwa, paving the way for possible\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/chamisa-drops-ed-legitimacy-challenge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-11-13T19:10:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/2019\/05\/Nelson-Chamisa-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"550\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/chamisa-drops-ed-legitimacy-challenge\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/chamisa-drops-ed-legitimacy-challenge\",\"name\":\"Chamisa drops ED legitimacy challenge - 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