Opposition leader Herbert Chamuka's plans to bring back Ideas Party of Democracy (IPD) into action ahead of general elections have flopped, Chamuka said.
The South African based politician told NewsDay that he was intending to bring back the party with a new name, Ideas Party of Democracy-Zimbabwe (IPD-Z), but Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) refused to be notified of that new party, saying it is the one and the same thing.
"A few days ago our party members approached ZEC with the intention to bring back IPD but with a 'Z' for Zimbabwe but ZEC said there was nothing new," Chamuka said.
"So, we are now continuing with People's Unity Party (PUP)".
This follows after Chamuka's supporters and part leaders urged him to bring back Ideas Party of Democracy (IPD) which was disbanded following disagreements over leadership and positional issues.
"Plans to bring back IPD were a result of pressure from my supporters," he said.
Chamuka said his supporters were calling for the re-establishment of IPD because the party had taken a lot of charity work to communities in different parts of the country during Covid-19 pandemic.
In an interview with some of the disappointed IPD supporters who were pushing for the rejuvenation of IPD said the party was disbanded in the midst of working on introducing projects, such as poultry, brick moulding and cobra making, that would help people become self-reliant financially after the lockdown.
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"A lot got help from the IPD programs during the Covid-19 pandemic and I am sure they are going to be very much disappointed to hear that plans to bring back IPD have flopped because there were a lot of projects they were promised.
"The IPD’s manifesto spelled out the party's policies on the economy, infrastructure, education, job creation, foreign and domestic policies. We really needed that to be fulfilled as well but it's very unfortunate that it has come to an end," said one of the supporters.
Talking to NewsDay, another supporter said IPD had meaningful policies aimed at fostering democracy in the country and they were very disappointed to hear that Chamuka's efforts to bring the party back were in vain.
“We are very disappointed, the party respected democracy that's why we really needed the party to come back," another party member said.
Meanwhile, Chamuka is one of the opposition leaders who noted that due to the wrong formula used for variations in voter numbers, the 2023 delimitation report by Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) was not constitutional.
