NYANGA – Elisabeth Valerio, Zimbabwe’s only woman Presidential candidate in the 2023 harmonised elections is soft but steely.
This is what many delegates who attended the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) 2023 post election review in Nyanga in September would testify about the president of the United Zimbabwe Alliance (UZA)Almost alone and in a sea of senior Government officials, commissioners, foreign ambassadors and delegates quick to pass last year’s national elections as free and fair, Valerio would stand up at every turn, speak softly but firmly and make her opinion known.
She emphatically told more than 40 delegates gathered at the Troutbeck Hotel that ZEC is a biased referee and she backed that with her party experience at the nomination courts, the campaign trail and the general administration of the election and voting period.A biochemist by training and environmentalist, Valerio is credited with stopping the Chinese from mining coal in Hwange National Park after making a case against the operation with President Mnangagwa.
“There is no equal treatment of parties by ZEC. At the nomination courts, dozens of opposition Parliamentary and local authority candidates were disqualified for flimsy reasons. Many who made it to the ballot paper had to fight their cases in the courts. Rallies were banned and instead of concentrating on campaigning opposition parties found themselves fighting electoral cases in court,” said Valerio.
Valerio said she had 192 candidates for Parliament but the rest were disqualified while only 32 made it. She said UZA’ largest number of candidates was in Mash West but zero candidates made it through the nomination process.
“We spent months preparing for these elections but we ended up spending time in the courts fighting to get on the ballot paper. I only had 20 days to campaign after winning my case in court,” said Valerio.
Source: Masvingo Mirror
