Mutambara weighing options of joining forces with Makoni

By Tichaona Sibanda
7 February 2008

The MDC led by Professor Arthur Mutambara is contemplating joining forces with independent presidential candidate, Simba Makoni, a senior party official has said.

Paul Themba-Nyathi, the director of elections for the faction told Newsreel that Mutambara has however been endorsed as its presidential candidate after the collapse of the unity talks with the Tsvangirai side last week.

‘Professor Mutambara was endorsed as our candidate by the national council, and it is the same body that can undo that and allow him to stand down,’ Nyathi said.

Reports indicate that the party is working on plan B to ensure they identify a safe seat for Mutambara to contest should he agree not to contest the presidential election. While he might face an uphill task to contest in Harare, sources told us the party is busy trying to see if he could contest in Bulawayo urban.

The election director said his party was disappointed by not having enough women candidates for parliamentary and council elections, saying a number of factors could be responsible for that.

‘For starters, the Zimbabwe Election Commission is demanding that each candidate pay Z$100 million registration fees. In terms of our economy this is a huge amount for an ordinary person to raise,’ he said.

Nyathi was however happy they had managed to field candidates in all 210 constituencies. He said they started their preparations last year, well ahead of time because they knew there would be elections this year. All their 20 sitting MPs have received the required two-thirds majority from their constituents to stand unopposed in their areas.