Two Zanu-PF MPs vote rival candidate

that at least two Zanu-PF legislators may have voted for the MDC-T candidate.
MDC-T candidate Mr Lovemore Mo-yo polled 105 votes to 93 that went to Zanu-PF’s Cde Simon Khaya Moyo.
There were 203 MPs eligible to vote.
However, 199 were present in Parliament Building.
Of these, 96 each belonged to Zanu-PF and MDC-T and seven to MDC.
Four MPs – two each from Zanu-PF and MDC-T – were absent for various reasons.
With the MDC leadership having said they would vote for Mr Lovemore Moyo, this theoretically meant 103 votes should have gone to MDC-T.
However, Mr Lovemore Moyo polled two more votes than this, indicating – in the very simplest terms – that a pair of Zanu-PF legislators voted against their own candidate.
There was also one spoilt ballot, whi-ch is believed to have been from a Zanu-PF legislator as indications were that the vote had been cast for Cde Khaya Moyo.
If all present Zanu-PF MPs had voted for the official party candidate and there had been no spoilt papers, Cde Khaya Moyo would still have lost by 96 votes to 103 due to the alliance between MDC-T and MDC.
A Zanu-PF Politburo member yesterday said, “This is a show of the democracy in the party.
“Yes, it’s a bitter pill to swallow but we will swallow it and ensure that such problems are dealt with before the general elections that we will have later this year.”
The loss will come as a reminder to Zanu-PF of the kind of disharmony that cost the party in the 2008 harmonised elections.
That year, Zanu-PF had the popular vote, but still did not have enough ballots to avoid a run-off in the Presidential race.
Soon after that general election, the party appeared to enter the Speaker’s election divided amid indications that about five Zanu-PF MPs voted for the MDC-T candidate.
That saw Mr Lovemore Moyo being declared Speaker in a vote that the Supreme Court subsequently ruled was in breach of Standing Rules and Orders, necessitating yesterday’s poll.
Poll outcome
Total eligible voters: 203
Total present: 199 (93 Zanu-PF, 93 MDC-T, 7 MDC)
L Moyo (MDC-T): 105
SK Moyo (Zanu-PF): 93
Spoilt ballots: 1
Absent
l E Mangoma – MDC-T (in police custody)
l C Muguti – MDC-T (convicted of criminal offence, currently appealing)
l N Masukume – Zanu-PF (hospitalised)
l C Sindi – Zanu-PF (could not make it to Harare)