Chinhoyi MP wins hotly contested CCC internal poll against Chamisa’s favoured candidate




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INCUMBENT Chinhoyi Member of Parliament (MP), Peter Mataruse this Saturday narrowly won, by just 30 votes, the right to represent the opposition party in the watershed 2023 harmonised elections expected in August.

According to unofficial results seen by NewZimbabwe.com, Mataruse tallied 676 votes while his closest rival Leslie Mhangwa, an engineer by profession, polled 646 while Ward 8 Councillor, Mukudzei Chigumbura got 368 votes.

Ballots were cast across all 15 wards that constitute the Chinhoyi constituency.

CCC president, Nelson Chamisa recently ordered that internal processes to choose a parliamentary candidate for the opposition stronghold be redone.

It is the only constituency countrywide to have repeated the process amid simmering factional battles as opposition politicians prepare for the party’s upcoming elective congress expected after 2023 harmonised elections.

Sources within the opposition movement told NewZimbabwe.com the initial nomination process was allegedly blighted by vote-buying and bussing of alien voters.

The incumbent CCC MP, a medical doctor by profession, is seeking a third term in office despite earlier hinting he would not contest to retain the position but go on retirement.

Mataruse has also previously served as Mayor of Chinhoyi.

Should the CCC top executive endorse the outcome of Saturday’s voting, Mataruse will square off against youthful Zanu PF candidate, Thomas Chidzomba in impending harmonised plebiscites. – Newzim