Zimbabwe has a history of disputed and violent elections since it became independent from the UK in 1980, and last week’s presidential and parliamentary votes were certainly not breaking the mould. Six years after he deposed long-time strongman president Robert Mugabe in a military coup, fuelling hopes that the country might at last be on the path to democratic reform, President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Mugabe’s Zanu-PF have retained power in a widely criticised election.
The country’s electoral commission declared Mnangagwa elected to a second term on Saturday with more than 52 per cent of the vote, while Nelson Chamisa of the main opposition Citizens Coalition for Change took 44 per cent. Chamisa denounced what he called a “coup on the ballot”.
The regional grouping, the South African Development Community (SADC), usually little more than a rubber stamp on dubious elections, and the African Union have both expressed concerns. The SADC complained about laws curbing free speech, intimidation by Zanu PF, the arrest on election night of dozens of members of a local electoral watchdog, and mismanagement by the country’s electoral body, most notably the long voting delays because many polling stations did not get ballots.
While the election was peaceful, some aspects “fell short of the requirements of the constitution of Zimbabwe” and of regional standards, Mumba said.
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Mnangagwa had hoped that the election would allow Zimbabwe to shake off the sanctions and international pariah status that has seen it locked out of the mainstream international financial system. Its economy remains a basket case with a national debt of €17 billion, and cripplingly high unemployment and poverty.
Last year backed by the EU and the African Development Bank, Zimbabwe signed up to economic and political reforms which would allow it to begin to address its economic problems and clear the debt arrears. Part of that involved credible elections. It is not yet out of the woods.