THE MDC-T national council yesterday resolved that the party would go ahead with the confirmation process of sitting MPs despite disgruntlement from members who are demanding open primary elections.
Report By Brian Chitemba Senior Reporter
Addressing a Press conference at Harvest House after the national council meeting, MDC-T secretary-general Tendai Biti said the party’s leadership unanimously adopted the candidate selection procedure for parliamentary and local government elections which would be done through a confirmation process by the district assembly.
Biti defended the confirmation process saying it was democratic because members of the party in a constituency which made up a district would have to confirm sitting MPs by two-thirds, failure of which the legislators would be exposed to open primary polls.
“The confirmation process is not a new thing; it has been in the (party) constitution since 2000,” he said.
However, there has been a furore over the selection process of MDC-T candidates with party supporters calling for open primaries, arguing that the confirmation exercise was meant to ring-fence sitting MPs who are scared of losing their seats.
The recently formed MDC-T Supporters’ Forum has vehemently rejected as “undemocratic” the confirmation of sitting MPs, insisting that aspiring legislators must undergo open primary elections.
The national council did not give dates for the primaries. Turning to the Copac draft constitution, Biti said there had been insignificant changes, adding the MDC-T continued to reject proposed amendments by Zanu PF.
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“There is total disagreement and we will be going for talks at 6pm (yesterday).
“There are a lot of issues like devolution, running mates, national prosecuting authority and land commission which are still unresolved,” he said. “Therefore, we should go for a referendum with the Copac draft in its current form. If there is disagreement, then Sadc will be seized with the issue.”
The national council also called for an end to political violence and the return to the barracks for soldiers currently deployed in various parts of the country to campaign for Zanu PF.
