HARARE – The opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) won in seven of the eight local authority by-elections held on Saturday, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission announced.
There were victories for the Nelson Chamisa led party in Chitungwiza’s ward 7, Mutare’s wards 14 and 16, Rusape ward 5 and Kariba wards 3, 4 and 8.
Zanu PF was victorious in Mt Darwin where its candidate Gift Madziwa won in ward 40 of the Pfura Rural District Council. The CCC did not field a candidate.
The by-elections were held to fill vacancies created by the death of incumbents or the recall of MDC Alliance councillors by the MDC-T led by Douglas Mwonzora.
Election watchdog the Zimbabwe Electoral Support Network said: “Voter turnout was relatively low across the eight wards. None of the wards recorded a turnout above 50 percent. The highest turnout was at ward 4 of Kariba which recorded 47 percent turnout and the lowest being Ward 16 of Mutare which recorded a turnout of 11 percent.”