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| Africa Subsaharan |
| Pre-poll divisions rock Zanu-PF |
| 2008-02-19 |
| Zimbabwe's ruling party, shaken by internal divisions and a potentially strong election challenge to President Robert Mugabe, will expel candidates running against its official nominees in the March vote, the official media said on Monday. An independent observer group, meanwhile, reported widespread attempts by Zanu-PF members to buy votes in the ruling party's nominating contests before the March 29 presidential, parliamentary and local council elections. Didymus Mutasa, a senior party official, said that in a number of key election districts more than one Zanu-PF candidate had registered to contest the same seat. Such duplicate registrations threaten to split the ruling party vote to the benefit of the opposition. "Given the large number of such cases, we will meet as a party and deliberate on how best we can deal with that," Mutasa told the state Herald newspaper. "Indiscipline can even be seen among senior party officials and that cannot be accepted," he said, adding that candidates who refused to withdraw would be kicked out of the party. |
| Posted by:Fred |