By- The opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) party will soon be declaring its leader Nelson Chamisa the sole presidential candidate for the 2023 elections.
CCC deputy spokesperson Gift Ostallos Siziba told The Standard that they are ready to launch the party “soon” with Chamisa as its leader. He said:
Chamisa unveiled the CCC in January this year after his rival, Douglas Mwonzora, who leads MDC-T grabbed the MDC Alliance party, including its symbols and emblems from him.
Since its unveiling, on 24 January 2022, CCC is yet to come up with a constitution and official structures.
We are ready to launch CCC very soon. Chamisa is qualitatively and quantitatively the most popular, most loved, and most preferred leader.
President Chamisa is by far the preferred choice in options for the next president.
We held our meeting last week in Harare with all the point persons from all over the country, our change champions from all over the country working in the community to inform the people on our path to launch the movement.
We met to get reports on voters’ roll, delimitation and voter registration in the countryside preparedness. There’s excitement in the rank and file.
The launch will be a confirmation beyond any doubt that we are new in form, character and strategy.
Political analyst Vivid Gwede said it was “logical” for Chamisa to stand as the presidential candidate as the founding CCC leader.
He said Chamisa was objectively “popular as confirmed by the 2018 elections and the recent Afrobarometer survey.”
However, another political commentator, Eldred Masunungure, who is a University of Zimbabwe political science lecturer, said that if CCC endorses Chamisa uncontested, it will be against the principles of democracy. He said:
Political party leaders do not want to take the risk of being booted out.
Going to an election uncontested internally is a risk-prevention strategy.
But it points to the shrinkage of democracy. It raises issues of transparency and democratic credentials.
To barricade a leader against the democratic choices of supporters is against the principles of democracy as members should have the freedom to choose the leaders they want.