Eleven candidates are to run for the Zimbabwean presidency in an election in August, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said, after several hopefuls were disqualified for failing to raise the US$20,000 needed to appear on the ballot.
The election is expected to pit Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, of the Zimbabwe African National Union — Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party, against pastor and lawyer Nelson Chamisa of the Citizens Coalition for Change party, who is seen as the strongest challenger.
The commission on Thursday said that 11 candidates had been disqualified from the election, several of whom, including human rights advocate Linda Masarira, failed to pay the US$20,000 to secure a slot on the ballot by Wednesday, dashing hopes of a female candidate for the top office.
Photo: AP
“I have been clear that the US$20,000 is exorbitant, it is discriminatory in nature and violates the section that speaks to non-discrimination in the eyes of the law,” Masarira said.
While Mnangagwa and Chamisa remain top contenders to revive the southern African country’s waning economic fortunes, an independent candidate for president has emerged in recent weeks.
Self-exiled independent candidate Saviour Kasukuwere, a former minister in then-Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe’s Cabinet, is expected to attract votes in ZANU-PF strongholds.
Kasukuwere, who fled the country during a coup that deposed Mugabe, has harbored presidential ambitions before.
Mnangagwa, 80, is seeking another term amid an economic collapse, with the Zimbabwe dollar plunging more than 50 percent this month against the US dollar.
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