Tsvangirai endorsed as MDC presidential candidate

Tichaona Sibanda
6 January 2008

The MDC national council, the party’s main decision making body, has endorsed Morgan Tsvangirai as its presidential candidate for next month’s general elections.

Party spokesman Nelson Chamisa said primaries to choose parliamentary and council candidates are also almost complete. He said party structures have since Saturday been selecting candidates for all the 210 constituencies up for grabs.

‘The exercise should have been completed by yesterday (Tuesday) but we have cases where candidates have disputed the results and as such our election directorate department is attending to that,’ Chamisa said.

He said that Tsvangirai was unanimously endorsed by the national council that met over the weekend. Chamisa added that a number of newly created safe seats in Harare and other provinces would be recommended to outstanding party cadres, who would not go through a primary election.
Without giving names Chamisa said; ‘We have a number of party cadres who have worked tirelessly for the party since its formation and the national council decided to honour them by giving them safe seats that they will contest in the elections.’

Reports indicate that senior party members like the former Mayor of Harare, Elias Mudzuri, has already been lined up to contest the safe Warren Park seat in the capital. Others being mentioned are Kerry Kay, the secretary for Welfare, Lucia Matibenga (Kuwadzana), formerly Chamisa’s constituency, Eddie Cross in Bulawayo and possibly Roy Bennett, the exiled Treasurer-General of the MDC in Manicaland.
The party spokesman confirmed he was shifting constituencies and would be contesting the newly created constituency of Kuwadzana East. He would not however disclose the list of candidates who successfully won the primaries, saying it was too early to do so because of the ‘disputes’.

Asked what would happen to Harare seats that are being held by members of the Mutambara faction, but won in 2000 under a united MDC, Chamisa could only say; ‘That’s going to be interesting, but I cannot let the cat out of the bag now’.