By Tichaona Chifamba
HARARE, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Tempers are flaring across Zimbabwe's two major political parties as they choose candidates to contest in forthcoming general elections scheduled for Aug. 21 at the latest.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa is expected to proclaim the election date anytime soon as amendments to the Electoral Act have been passed by Parliament and are now before Senate.
The ruling party Zanu-PF and the main opposition party MDC-T faction led by Nelson Chamisa are grappling with complaints of vote rigging and imposition of candidates by senior party officials.
Zanu-PF has had to conduct re-runs in primary elections to choose candidates for Members of Parliament, senators and councilors, while in the MDC-T, the selection of candidates "by consensus" and holding of primary elections in some selected areas have been met with acrimony.
The smaller parties have apparently found it easier to choose candidates by consensus, with the smaller MDC in the current legislature coming up with candidates who will contest under the banner of the MDC Alliance, which is also led by Chamisa.
The People's Democratic Party led by Tendai Biti has also chosen its candidates who will also contest under the MDC Alliance banner.
The People's Rainbow Coalition which is led by former state vice president Joice Mujuru, who was fired from government and Zanu-PF by then President Robert Mugabe in 2014, is yet to come up with candidates amid reports that Mujuru's own National People's Party is failing to come up with political structures in the provinces.
Mujuru wants to contest for the presidency but so far no other candidates for the legislature and local authority elections have been unveiled.
However, the party is said to be preparing to train about 50,000 polling agents during the first week of June.
It remains to be seen if the coalition, which has failed to hold rallies opting for door to door campaigns because of resource constraints, will be able to train such a huge number.
Former MDC-T treasurer-general Elton Mangoma also leads another outfit of small political parties under the Coalition of Democrats (Code) banner but besides indicating that he wants to contest for the presidency, there is nothing much to show for what is happening on the ground.
Mugabe is said to be supporting the New Patriotic Front which is being led in the interim by former minister in his government Ambrose Mutinhiri, but leadership squabbles have hit the fledgling party.
The party is yet to announce its presidential candidate amid speculation that Mutinhiri is merely warming up the chair for a candidate to be unveiled at a later stage.
All in all, about 120 parties have registered with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to contest in the elections, with former cabinet minister Nkosana Moyo also throwing his hat in the ring as leader of the Alliance for People's Agenda.
Among opposition parties, only the smaller faction of the MDC-T led by Thokozani Khupe has come up with an election manifesto which pledges to fight corruption and calls for devolution of power to the provinces.
Zanu-PF recently launched its manifesto whose theme is "Unite, fight corruption, develop, re-engage and create jobs."
