Chamisa, MDC not learning from the past

What Chamisa and his cronies seem to forget is, whether the MDC Alliance is participating in this coming election or not, the election will go on as planned. After suffering a humiliating electoral defeat at the hands of a rejuvenated ZANU-PF in 2013, the MDC-T adopted a “no reform, no vote” campaign, which the revolutionary party capitalised on in the 2015 by-elections.

THE crazy election season is upon us. And crazy things are happening in the opposition camp. For sometime now opposition leader Mr Nelson Chamisa and his MDC Alliance partners have been threatening to boycott this year’s harmonised elections.

But boycotting has been part of Chamisa’s predecessor, the late Mr Morgan Tsvangirai’s and the MDC party strategy, since its inception in 1999. Chamisa’s boycott calls are growing by each passing day.

In March, the MDC Alliance released an ambitious document, Plan and Environment for a Credible Election ( PEACE). In this document they have made a barrage of fictitious demands, which they claim if the Government does not meet, they will boycott the election. Some of the demands in this document are preposterous and unheard of. The MDC Alliance presidential candidate sometime last week had this to say: “People have said Chamisa has threatened to boycott elections if there is no agreement on a proper ballot. We will not boycott elections, but I have told ZANU-PF that there will be no election without a proper ballot paper.”

Chamisa is not ranting and raving alone, but his cheerleaders are also making empty threats and reckless statements whenever they get a chance.

“We will make it impossible to have an election if there are no reforms. We will not be part of this election if our demands are not met,” said MDC-T acting chairperson, Mr Morgan Komichi.

When Komichi was asked to elaborate on his statement, he declined to give more details on the matter.

Something sinister is brewing at Harvest House.

The MDC-T in particular, for some time has made itself believe that an election they are not part of does not constitute a legitimate election. The organisation is of the belief that their participation in an election is what gives it legitimacy.

What Chamisa and his cronies seem to forget is, whether the MDC Alliance is participating in this coming election or not, the election will go on as planned.

After suffering a humiliating electoral defeat at the hands of a rejuvenated ZANU-PF in 2013, the MDC-T adopted a “no reform, no vote” campaign, which the revolutionary party capitalised on in the 2015 by-elections.

The 2014 fallout of Tsvangirai and his confidant — Tendai Biti —resulted in a spilt and the recalling of MPs aligned to the latter.

This meant some seats fell vacant in the Parliament, and both factions did not participate in the subsequent by-elections held in the following year.

ZANU-PF took advantage of this and went on to sweep all formerly MDC-T seats that were available for the taking.

If the MDC Alliance decides not to partake in this year’s the harmonised election, it will be a bonus to ZANU-PF, who will repeat what they did in the 2015 by-elections, feed in the “so called” opposition strongholds.

Another lesson for Chamisa is what happened in Kenya last year. After the first presidential results were nullified, opposition leader Ralia Odinga decided to pull out of the re-run citing electoral irregularities.

By so doing, he handed Uhuru Kenyata a resounding victory of more than 90 percent of the vote.

Odinga miscalculated events; he thought if he withdrew his candidacy the courts would nullify the election again and that the public would sympathise with him.

Most opposition parties in Africa have a problem or are of the opinion that, if they voluntarily pull out or lose an election, public sympathy will determine the result or reverse the outcome of a poll.

Judging from past experiences, the MDC read from the same script as Odinga and his party, National Super Alliance. Unlike Tsvangirai, who took notes from Odinga when approaching elections, we hope Chamisa will not miscalculate events and repeat his predecessor’s mistakes.

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