Zimbabwe - 2023 Elections
Zimbabwe is constitutionally a republic. The country elected Emmerson Mnangagwa president for a five-year term in the 2018 general elections. Despite incremental improvements from past elections, domestic and international observers noted serious concerns and called for further reforms to meet regional and international standards for democratic elections.
Numerous factors contributed to a flawed election process in 2018, including: the Zimbabwe Election Commission’s lack of independence; heavily biased state media favoring the ruling party; voter intimidation; the unconstitutional influence of tribal leaders; failure to provide an electronic preliminary voters roll; politicization of food aid; security services’ excessive use of force; and lack of transparency concerning election results.
Some of these factors reemerged in numerous by-elections during the year and in the early stages of the electoral process for the 2023 general elections. The ruling party leads the government with a supermajority in the National Assembly but not in the Senate.
Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: unlawful or arbitrary killings, including an extrajudicial killing; torture and cases of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by the government; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary detention; political prisoners; arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy; serious problems with the independence of the judiciary; serious government restrictions on free expression and media, including violence, threats of violence, and unjustified arrests or prosecutions against journalists, censorship, and arrests for libel; substantial interference with the rights of peaceful assembly and freedom of association; restrictions on freedom of movement; serious and unreasonable restrictions on political participation; and serious government corruption.
There was also serious government restriction on or harassment of domestic and international human rights organizations; deficient investigations of and accountability for gender-based violence, including crimes involving violence or threats of violence against women and girls; trafficking in persons; laws criminalizing consensual same-sex sexual conduct between adults, although generally not enforced; significant restrictions on workers’ freedom of association; and existence of the worst forms of child labor.
Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) reported security forces abducted, assaulted, and tortured citizens, including targeted assaults on and torture of civil society activists, labor leaders, opposition members, and other perceived opponents of the government. Throughout the year, police used excessive force in apprehending, detaining, and interrogating criminal suspects. Police and military officers used excessive force and violent means to disperse peaceful demonstrations and to disrupt informal trading.
Prison conditions were harsh and life-threatening due to overcrowding, food shortages, lack of water, lice infestations, shortage of blankets in the cold season, physical mistreatment of prisoners, and lack of access to personal hygiene products, as well as inadequate sanitary conditions and medical care. Detainees depended on family members for essential dietary needs. Those without family or community support were forced to rely on other detainees for survival, although some prisoners identified as malnourished received additional meals. Diarrhea was prevalent in most prisons.
The government regularly used arbitrary arrest and detention as tools of intimidation and harassment, especially against political activists, civil society members, journalists, attorneys, and ordinary citizens asserting their rights. Prolonged pretrial detention for government critics, including journalists, ordinary citizens, student activists, labor, and opposition leaders, was common. Police continued to press criminal charges against street vendors arrested under selectively enforced COVID-19 safety regulations. Human rights NGOs reported street vendors in urban areas were often targets of arbitrary arrest and allegations of operating illegal businesses. The law absolves individual security agents from criminal liability regarding unlawful arrests and detention. Government officials at times ignored court orders, delayed bail and access to medical care, and selectively enforced court orders related to land disputes favorable to those associated with the government.
Unlike normal criminal proceedings, which move from investigation to trial within months, prosecutors regularly took abnormally long to submit cases involving members of the political opposition or civil society critics of the government for trial. Hearings were sometimes scheduled when presiding judges were on vacation. Prosecutors in political cases were often “unprepared to proceed” and received numerous extensions. When authorities granted bail to government opponents, they often did not conclude investigations and set a trial date but chose to “proceed by way of summons.” This left the threat of impending prosecution remaining, with the accused person eventually being called to court, only to be informed of further delays. Magistrates sometimes delayed making case records available to deliberately delay appeals for bail in the High Court.
While the law obliges traditional chiefs to be impartial, in 2018, traditional leaders mobilized voters and canvassed support for ZANU-PF in rural areas. In return, traditional leaders continued to receive agricultural, material, and financial benefits. Chiefs Council President Fortune Charumbira continued to be in contempt of a 2018 High Court order to withdraw public comments made in support of ZANU-PF. In 2020 he delivered a partisan political speech at the annual ZANU-PF party conference in support of ZANU-PF and President Mnangagwa. In March, President Mnangagwa made a public statement undermining the ancestral legitimacy of chiefs who did not support the ruling party. In January, ZANU-PF pressed all village heads in the Chivi South constituency to accompany voters to polling stations and emphasize that voting for ZANU-PF would avoid post-election violence.
Ahead of the 26 March 2022 by-elections, opposition supporters faced harassment and attacks across the country. On February 4, ZANU-PF supporters attacked the car of CCC Kwekwe Central candidate Judith Tobaiwa and assaulted her driver. On February 6, riot police reportedly arrested 12 supporters of recalled member of parliament Amos Chibaya in the Mkoba constituency near Gweru. On February 16, three CCC supporters reported ZANU-PF members attacked and tortured them in Harare East. On February 18, after police arrested 13 CCC supporters in Harare, a prominent human rights activist shared two videos described as footage of CCC arrests at Harare Central Police Station. One shows police beating screaming individuals in the dark. The other shows police forcing detained youths to crawl across pavement on their knees. On February 14, police detained CCC Vice President and former Finance Minister Tendai Biti without charge as he met with party members in his Harare East constituency, releasing him when his lawyer arrived. On 02 March 2022, four men armed with a gun, an axe, and machetes invaded Biti’s home in Harare and severely wounded a security guard
Through politicized food distribution, the government punished communities that elected opposition councilors by denying them assistance while rewarding communities that voted for ZANU-PF. In January 2022, reports that officials distributed benefits from the president’s agricultural scheme on a partisan basis were widespread. For example, the ZANU-PF Zaka district chair required attendance at ZANU-PF meetings to receive assistance, and opposition supporters were removed from the list of beneficiaries at Manica Bridge Community Hall. In September, Chief Andrew Bvute reportedly instructed residents in Mberengwa to vote for ZANU-PF in the 2023 general election. In November, Agriculture Minister Anxious Masuka told villagers in Chipinge they must “remember” President Mnangagwa, who gave them agricultural inputs, and “return the favor” in the 2023 election.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa announced on 31 May 2023 that Zimbabwe will hold its presidential and parliamentary elections on August 23, as the southern African country battles a raging economic crisis. Mnangagwa, elected president in 2018 after a military coup that deposed President Robert Mugabe the previous year, is seeking a second term in office.
The 80-year-old’s main rival is lawyer and pastor Nelson Chamisa, 45, who leads the newly formed Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC). The announcement through a government gazette also set October 2 for a presidential run-off vote if required. Apart from the presidency, the election will also decide the composition of the 300-seat parliament and close to 2,000 local council positions. The election proclamation comes amid parliamentary debates over electoral reforms.
Chamisa’s party is demanding access to and an audit of the voters’ roll, as well as public media access that it says will help level the playing field before the polls. Political commentators say failure to implement electoral reforms may set Zimbabwe up for another disputed election.
Its economy is yet to recover from decades of decline and bouts of financial chaos under the leadership of Mugabe, with the opposition blaming the government for growing corruption and economic mismanagement. Mnangagwa has said his ZANU-PF government has done well to re-engage with Western countries, but blames them for Zimbabwe’s economic woes and failure to service a burgeoning debt.
Zimbabwe's parliament approved a controversial law that ostensibly promotes patriotism but has been condemned by the opposition as a "draconian" attempt to stifle dissent ahead of national elections. The bill, passed by the lower house on 01 June 2023, criminalises acts that damage "the sovereignty and national interest" of the southern African country. In the most extreme cases, violators run the risk of up to 20 years in prison.
"What they are criminalizing is differing opinion against Zanu-PF... and this happens at the edge of an election showing without any doubt that the envelope of reform is being ignored," said Ostallos Siziba, spokesman for the opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) party.
Vision 2030 will be realised through implementation of the Transitional Stabilisation Programme (2018-2020), and successive Five-Year Medium-Term Development Strategies (2021-2025) and (2026-2030), centring on provision of key public infrastructure and services delivery. The Vision is focused on promoting innovation, entrepreneurship, equitable development and prosperity for all, under a market economy that leverages on Zimbabwe’s natural resources and abundant human skills. To-date, a number of projects have been undertaken and are on various levels of completion.
Besides the presidential election, Zimbabweans will also elect local council representatives and members of parliament. Since the 2013 Constitution, the National Assembly of Zimbabwe, the lower house of Zimbabwe’s parliament, comprises 270 members. Of those, 210 representatives are elected through single-member constituencies.
The remaining 60 seats are specifically designated for women and are allocated using proportional representation across 10 constituencies, each containing six seats. This proportional representation was based on the geographical divisions of the country’s provinces. On the day of the election, each voter casts a single ballot, a decisive factor in the distribution of seats to the respective parties for both categories of seats. The Senate has 80 members.
A dozen candidates were vying for the presidency in the general election on August 23, but the main contest is between incumbent Emmerson Mnangagwa and leading opposition candidate Nelson Chamisa. For a presidential candidate to be declared winner, he or she must receive more than 50 percent of the vote. If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote, a runoff election is held between the two candidates with the highest number of votes. By law, the runoff should typically be held within 28-42 days after the initial election.
The state of the country’s economy is likely to be a core concern for voters. Zimbabwe continues to face significant economic challenges, including high unemployment rates, hyperinflation, and the currency’s loss of more than 80 percent of its value to the dollar just this year. Corruption has been a longstanding problem in Zimbabwe, eroding public trust in the government. Earlier this year, a four-part Al Jazeera documentary series with shocking revelations of gold smuggling by individuals linked to the government, triggered outrage in the country. Inadequacy of quality healthcare, education, energy and basic services is often a pressing concern for citizens in Zimbabwe.
International rights groups said there was a crackdown on opposition officials and supporters by ZANU-PF. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch alleged Mnangagwa’s administration used the police and the courts to silence dissent amid rising tensions due to a currency crisis, a sharp hike in food prices, a weakening public health system and inadequate numbers of formal jobs. Voting this time ran over into a second day after delays in distributing ballot papers in the capital, Harare, and other urban areas prompted Mnangagwa to extend the election by a day. Voters slept outside polling stations in urban areas that are opposition strongholds to cast their ballots. Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa was re-elected to a second and final five-year term, the country's electoral commission announced late 26 August 2023, in results that immediately drew allegations of fraud from political opponents, with opposition leader Nelson Chamisa also claiming victory. Mnangagwa's victory meant the ZANU-PF party retained the governmental leadership it has held for all 43 years of Zimbabwe's history since the nation was re-named following independence from white minority rule in 1980. Zimbabwe has had just two leaders in that time, long-ruling autocrat Robert Mugabe and Mnangagwa.
The 80-year-old Mnangagwa, who has the nickname “the crocodile” from his days as a guerrilla fighter, won 52.6% of the votes in the midweek election, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said in a late-night announcement in the capital, Harare. The 45-year-old main opposition leader, Nelson Chamisa, got 44%, the commission said. Mnangagwa won just over 2.3 million of the 4.4 million votes cast. Chamisa received 1.9 million, the electoral commission said.
The international election observers said they had specific concerns over a ruling party affiliate organization called Forever Associates of Zimbabwe that they said set up tables at polling stations and took details of people walking into voting booths. The head of the African Union mission, former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, said the FAZ activities should be declared “criminal offenses.”
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
