By A Correspondent- The MDC Alliance is developing a new candidate selection template to use in candidate selection for the 2023 harmonised elections and beyond.

The party’s deputy spokesperson Gift Ostallos Siziba yesterday told The Standard that if the template is adopted, the MDC Alliance will choose its 2023 contenders outside its structures in consultation with community members.

He said the party will select its council and parliamentary candidates in 2022, a year before the next elections to give the contenders ample campaign time. Said Siziba:

We are basically strengthening the deployment of candidates because the key objective to be achieved by this template is to make sure that we deploy people that are committed to serving and wanted by the grassroots and community leaders outside our party structures.

Meanwhile, reports suggest that the template, which is being crafted by the MDC Alliance elections directorate led by Ian Makone, is being frowned upon by mostly sitting legislators, councillors and other top officials who fear being side-lined once the proposal is adopted.

This comes after opposition voters have raised concern over some sitting legislators and councillors’ lack of visibility in their constituencies.

Analysts have warned the MDC Alliance that it risked alienating the party from its grassroots support base if it adopted an “elitist template”. Analyst Effie Ncube said:

It may have the unintended consequences of derailing the party from its goal of securing the seat of government because those you consider to be the least educated and the unemployed for example are the most enthusiastic of the support base of the MDC.

It creates an elitist approach to politics, something that is completely unwarranted.

-The Standard