Zimbabwe Heads to the Polls Mid-2023

Zimabweans are heading to the polls for their general elections in the third quarter of 2023, with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) announcing a suspension of by-elections. These, according to the country’s Constitution, cannot be held nine months before a national election is due. 

The country’s last elections were held on 31 July 2018, with Zanu-PF emerging as the victorious political party under the helm of President and party leader Emmerson Mnangawa. Zanu-PF has ruled Zimbabwe since the country’s independence in 1980. The 42-year reign of the party is likely to continue, despite new players emerging in the role of the opposition while old ones attempt to consolidate their positions. 

A Brief Snapshot of the Main Contenders

The ruling Zanu-PF is expected to hold a congress in the next three weeks in which it is highly anticipated that Mnangagwa will be endorsed as the party’s 2023 presidential candidate. 

Nelson Chamisa is the current leader of the main opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC). He was formerly a part of the MDC-Alliance. Chamisa has promised to improve social protection and reform. Criticisms levelled at Chamisa and his party include that the CCC does not have “the political structures, ideological grounding, or a strategy to resolve the Zimbabwean socio political crisis”.

There is also the MDC-T, which is led by Douglas Mwonzora.

Criticisms Levelled

Chamisa has criticised the ZEC, citing lack of independence amidst contested election results. Further accusations were levelled at President Mnangagwa, who is accused of nepotism and manipulating past election results by appointing electoral commissioners who were relatives of some of his colleagues. Despite Zanu-PF vehemently opposing and ruling out any possibilities of the United Nations (UN) observing the elections, Chamisa has called on the intergovernmental body to attend as an observer. The ZEC has responded by dismissing as false “reports of any form or rigging in Zimbabwean elections”. This is despite the fact that the ZEC has a complete mandate to monitor the printing of ballot papers, which ultimately denies any opposition the chance to test the ballot paper’s “encrypted technological capabilities and security features”. 

The ZEC has been criticised for failing to revise its nomination fees under Statutory Instrument 144 of 2022. This has the potential of excluding multiple parties from the elections as presidential candidates are expected to pay $20,000, while aspiring Members of Parliament (MPs) are required to pay $1,000. Senate and local authority candidates will be required to pay $200. Some have referred to this as pricing democracy “out of reach for many”.

The President of the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe Obert Masaraure has also criticised Zanu-PF of using teachers as a political tool. This followed after the launch of the recent Teachers for Economic Development (Teachers for ED) with over 5,000 educators attending and praising Mnangagwa. Masaraure called the move  a propaganda exercise, adding that Zanu-PF planned to use the teachers as polling officials in the elections as a way to “manipulate votes” in those constituencies where the opposition failed to field election agents.

A fourth challenge that is expected to arise in the upcoming elections is the issue of the youth vote. According to an Afrobarometer survey, just over half of youths aged 18 to 35, approximately 70% of Zimbabwe’s population, are planning to vote. This could potentially mean that the results of the elections will be under-representative of the overall population and that results could be quite skewed. This is partially attributed to political apathy among the youth.

The President Issues a Strong Warning

During this October, President Mnangagwa threatened politically focused NGOs, describing them as “trojan horses” with an intent on causing electoral instability. He also called for no violence during the upcoming elections. While reiterating that the elections must be peaceful, Mnangagwa stated that they are for Zimbabweans only; implying that no unfriendly foreign influences to Zimbabwe would be tolerated. 

The State of the Nation

A report conducted by the World Bank last year estimated that the number of Zimbabweans living in abject poverty, nearly half of the population, was nearly 7.9 million. The persistent challenges of inflation, unemployment, and poor service delivery continue to weigh heavily on the nation’s citizens. Some of the key developmental issues of concern include economic mismanagement and unemployment, which is expected to reach 5.9% by the end of 2022.

What’s Next?

The head of the European Union’s (EU’s) electoral mission for Zimbabwe Elmar Brok recently recommended that the country amends some of its laws prior to the elections to give all parties a fair chance of winning. Electoral reforms should ideally include levelling the playing field, ensuring the impartiality of state media, treating all parties equally, ensuring a proper voters’ registration, amongst multiple other factors and areas for reforms. If loopholes in current legislation are addressed, this is one of the ways of ensuring peace in the country, according to Brok.

Despite such recommendations, it is unlikely that Zanu-PF will let go of any of the power it has consolidated over the past three decades or change any of the laws that could favour the opposition. The upcoming elections are expected to see much of the same in the Zimbabwean political landscape with the current ruling party continuing to hold the reins tightly and steering the country in a direction which it views as the best for Zimbabweans. This is despite the economic state of the country, high levels of inflation, high unemployment figures, widespread poverty, and others. 

Opposition parties, which are sorely missed in Parliament due to their slim presence there, must continue to apply pressure on Zanu-PF in peaceful and consistent ways to give Zimbabweans hope for change. Many citizens live in fear during election periods and this is a time when violence can erupt. It is not uncommon for the ruling party to rely on its armed forces to quell protests. Voter intimidation is another factor that could be a stumbling block to free and fair elections. The façade of free and fair elections is expected to take years to break with the ultimate aim of having a more meaningful and democratic party landscape that Zimbabwe could benefit from.