The ruling Zanu-PF could be banking on Nelson Chamisa being ousted as leader of the opposition MDC Alliance.
Some senior Zanu-PF officials are openly urging MDC members to vote for the opposition party's secretary-general, Douglas Mwonzora, or co-vice-president Elias Mudzuri in the Alliance's election.
Political analyst Ricky Mukonza said Chamisa had proved a strong competitor for Zanu-PF in last year's presidential election.
"What may be worrisome for Zanu-PF is that he appeals to the young people, and in the 2023 elections these are likely to be the majority of voters," said Mukonza.
"Thwarting Chamisa in the internal MDC battles could be one of the strategies Zanu-PF is using to deal with him. This is the beginning of the battles towards the 2023 elections."
From May 24 to 26 the MDC Alliance, which narrowly lost to Zanu-PF last year in the highly disputed general election, will have all posts contested to bring to an end a leadership dispute.
The Alliance brings together leaders of the Chamisa-led MDC, Welshman Ncube's MDC, the People's Democratic Party led by Tendai Biti, Transform Zimbabwe led by Jacob Ngarivhume, ZimPF headed by Agrippa Mutambara, and Matthias Guchutu's Multi-Racial Christian Democrats.
Since Chamisa has been at the helm of the opposition formation, its votes have grown by a million from the time it was led by the late Morgan Tsvangirai.
In contrast, under President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Zanu-PF's support has grown by 350,000 votes since Robert Mugabe was ousted.
MDC Alliance insiders told the Sunday Times there were efforts among Chamisa's detractors, inside and outside the party, who wanted to prevent him from attending the elective congress.
They claimed some "fictitious" characters had been identified in attempting to petition Mudzuri and Mwonzora to call an extraordinary congress before May.
Chamisa last week undertook a diplomatic offensive around Africa, ostensibly to brief selected continental leaders on the economic and political crisis in Zimbabwe.
It is thought his political opponents wanted to seize his absence as an opportunity to persuade Mudzuri and Mwonzora to call an extraordinary congress in which only the position of party president would be up for election. But other insiders said Chamisa was confident of an overwhelming victory in any party election.
The Sunday Times also learnt that there were moves to force amendments to the MDC constitution to trim the powers of the president.
MDC spokesperson Jacob Mafume said that with dates for the congress set, preparations were now in full swing.
He confirmed that the constitution would be reviewed, just like other focus areas such as ideology and strategy, the policies and principles of the party.
"A congress is not just about elections, it is also about auditing what has happened, setting the agenda for the next five years," he said.
Speculation has been rife that Chamisa would be challenged by Mudzuri or Mwonzora for the post of president.
But Mafume said he was not aware who was vying for which national position, adding that the nomination process was a work in progress.
Chamisa's spokesperson, Nkululeko Sibanda, said his boss "was aware of a war chest by Zanu-PF" to try to scuttle Chamisa's consolidation of the presidency.
Sibanda claimed that some opposition party officials were being sponsored to challenge him.
"We are aware they know they have little chances of succeeding and this is why they are operating with more than one plan. So the idea is that since they will fail in keeping president Chamisa away from the congress of the MDC, they are planning on causing much mayhem at the congress."
Mwonzora did not respond to questions sent to him. But he is on record as saying he is free to contest any post. He beat Chamisa by a wide margin in the last elective congress to land the post of secretary-general.
The ruling party's presidential spokesperson, George Charamba, has repeatedly claimed that Chamisa stood no chance against senior leaders in the opposition...