Zanu-PF and MDC-Alliance will share $25 million allocated to political parties by Treasury under the Political Parties Finance Act.

Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube set aside the $25 million in the 2020 National Budget he presented in Parliament last month.

The figure is higher than last year’s allocation of $12 million.

Zanu-PF will get the lion’s share of the money after it secured more than two-thirds of parliamentary seats as it trounced MDC-Alliance in the July 30 2018 watershed elections, which were widely given a clean bill of health by local, regional and international observers.

A rough calculation shows that the revolutionary party is set to pocket almost $17,5 million with MDC- Alliance taking home about $7,5 million, given its paltry seats in the National Assembly.

Zanu-PF won 145 of the 210 seats in the National Assembly against MDC-Alliance’s 63.

The remaining two seats were won by the National Patriotic Front’s Masango “Blackman” Matambanadzo (Kwekwe Central) and independent candidate Mr Temba Mliswa (Norton).

The Permanent Secretary in the ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Mrs Virginia Mabhiza confirmed the allocation yesterday.

“Yes, political parties were allocated about $25 million in the Blue Book.

We have not yet made calculations to establish how the money would be distributed once it has been disbursed,” said Mrs Mabhiza.

Under the Political Parties Finance Act, only a political party that secures 5 percent of the total votes cast can benefit from the fiscus.

Political parties have, however, expressed concern at the piecemeal disbursement of the funds as Government grapples with limited fiscal space.State media