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TOMORROW by-elections will be held in 16 constituencies across the country where the ruling Zanu-PF party expects to consolidate its Parliamentary majority. The polls will be a litmus test for the vanguard party which already holds a commanding two thirds majority in the House of Assembly.

The by-elections come after the opposition MDC-T withdrew its legislators from Parliament creating vacancies in 14 constituencies while the other two fell vacant following the expulsion of Temba Mliswa and his uncle Didymus Mutasa from Zanu-PF.

Voters will cast their ballots in five constituencies in Bulawayo while Tsholotsho North is also up for grabs in Matabeleland North province. There will be elections in Harare East, Dzivarasekwa, Highfield West, Kuwadzana, Kambuzuma, Glenview South, Headlands, Hurungwe West, Mbizo in Kwekwe and Dangamvura-Chikanga in Mutare. In Bulawayo the vacant seats are Lobengula, Luveve, Makokoba, Pelandaba-Mpopoma and Pumula.

The MDC formations have not fielded candidates in the elections with Zanu-PF expected to fight it out with independents and some Zapu contestants in some constituencies in Bulawayo.

It has largely been a peaceful campaign period with candidates’ going about their business in a serene environment. We applaud the maturity shown by the different protagonists and encourage them to continue in that same spirit during and after the announcement of the results.

At the weekend Zanu-PF held star rallies in Bulawayo and Tsholotsho North and if the turnout at these events is anything to go by, we expect a decent voter turnout tomorrow.

In Bulawayo, the ruling party will be hoping to bag a few seats in an area traditionally perceived to be an MDC-T stronghold. Its candidates such as Retired Colonel Tshinga Dube (Makokoba), Godfrey Malaba (Pumula) and Joseph Tshuma (Pelandaba-Mpopoma) have been visible on the ground and would be expecting to win comfortably.

In Tsholotsho North, the Minister of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services, Professor Jonathan Moyo has been working hard to win the hearts and minds of his constituents and will be fancying his chances of reclaiming the seat he narrowly lost to MDC’s Roselyn Nkomo in the 2013 harmonised elections.

Hurungwe West will test the popularity of former fitness trainer Mliswa who is standing as an independent against Keith Guzah of Zanu-PF. For the first time since the turn of the millennium, Zanu-PF could make serious inroads into urban centres with Harare and Bulawayo presenting the party with its biggest test.

With the opposition in disarray, Zanu-PF has been presented with an opportunity to gain a foothold in the country’s two biggest cities. The political landscape will change dramatically after tomorrow’s polls with the MDC-T coming out as the biggest loser following its decision not to field candidates. Since its crushing defeat to Zanu-PF in the 2013 elections, Morgan Tsvangirai and his party have been seeing their fortunes wane and the decline in the party’s fortunes could be worsened by its loss of seats it once considered to be safe.

The infighting in the MDC-T pitting Tsvangirai and his deputy Thokozani Khupe is thought to have been precipitated by the national council decision not to participate in the by-elections. Khupe and her cabal who wanted to participate had reasoned that it was suicidal to donate seats to Zanu-PF particularly in the party’s stronghold of Bulawayo. But Tsvangirai used his influence to rail road the national council to back his decision not to field candidates.

We therefore expect the fallout between the two most senior MDC-T officials to escalate further after these polls. On the other hand, if Zanu-PF emerges victorious in most of the constituencies tomorrow, the party could put itself in good stead ahead of the 2018 general election.