THE Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) yesterday said it could not block Nelson Chamisa and his party from using the MDC Alliance name, dealing a blow to MDC-T leader Douglas Mwonzora, who is claiming sole use of the acronym.

Mwonzora is seeking to rebrand his smaller faction as MDC Alliance, the name used by Chamisa and his party in the 2018 elections.

Last week, the MDC-T wrote to Zec chairperson Priscilla Chigumba asking her to bar Chamisa and his party from using the name and symbols.

Despite leading the MDC-T, Mwonzora said last week that he planned to contest the March 26 by-elections as MDC Alliance in what analysts said was a desperate move to confuse voters.

Zec spokesperson Joyce Kazembe told NewsDay in an interview yesterday that the electoral body would not interfere with disputes between political parties over names.

“We cannot block any party that would want to register with any name as long as the name brought is different from any other name that has already been registered with another political party,” she said.

“If there are other individuals who want to block others from using certain names which are different from theirs, we won’t entertain them. As long as the MDC acronym is used without making the name similar to the other names that have already been accepted as political party names, we can’t reject registration.”

Chamisa has insisted that his party will contest the March 26 by-elections under the MDC Alliance ticket.