Citizens Coalition for Change leader, Nelson Chamisa says he is excited by his party’s inaugural parliamentary and council election victory but is focused on the 2023 elections.
Chamisa’s new party emerged victorious in the recently held by-elections after scooping 19 of the 28 parliamentary seats and 75 of the 120 council seats, despite being formed two months before the elections.
The opposition leader said despite the win, his party still has a long way to go if it is to entertain hopes of defeating ZanuPF next year.
“We’re excited but we still have a long way to go,” Chamisa said.
He added that if his party had been fairly treated, they would have gotten a landslide.
“We have done it against all odds, the odds were against us in terms of banning of our rallies, disruption of our campaign programs, arrests of people. Our supporters were being violated… We even lost one of our supporters, Mboneni Ncube in the Midlands. B
“But I must say that the citizens did exceptionally well. We had a landslide victory. Out of the 28 parliamentary seats we managed to secure 19 of those,” Chamisa added.
The by-elections are widely viewed as a precursor to the 2023 general elections.
Currently, ZanuPF controls a two-thirds majority in parliament while the MDC-Alliance remains the main opposition and the CCC is now the third biggest.
Chamisa said his party is aiming for a landslide in the general elections.
“Had it not been for the conditions that are not free and biased in favour of ZanuPF, we would have scored over 25 of the 28. The people have done it, the citizens of Zimbabwe have done it. We moved from zero to 19 in parliament and I can tell you that in 2023 it’s going to be a whitewash. It going to be a big victory. We want to have 2/3s in parliament. We want to turn the parliament yellow,” Chamisa said.
