ZANU-PF boasts 1mil registered voters

Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe at a campaign Rally in Harare, Zimbabwe. Picture: Taurai Maduna/Eyewitness News
| 02 December 2012
ZIMBABWE - President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF said it has secured nearly one million more voters in the past 11 months, almost all of them women.

The party's women's affairs secretary said they have been on a massive recruitment drive and this should ensure ZANU-PF wins next year's election.

Oppah Muchinguri said the women's league has registered 700,000 more members since January.

She said women are the backbone of ZANU-PF and the huge numbers registered for the party mean victory is almost certain in next year's polls.

The figures are significant: President Robert Mugabe won a total of just over one million votes in the first round of elections in March 2008, while Morgan Tsvangirai won 1.2 million.

The women's league said it aims to reach one million members before the polls, while the ZANU-PF youth league is also hoping to register a similar number.

Zimbabwe has around five million registered voters in total and the Movement for Democratic Change has often advised its members to buy ZANU-PF cards for their own protection.

(Edited by Clare Matthes)