A RECENT survey by Afrobarometer showed that 59% of Zimbabwe’s electorate trust that elections serve a vital purpose in changing inept political leadership on a continent ravaged by a wave of military coups sweeping away constitutionally elected governments.
The same survey indicates that 53% of the electorate has confidence that elected legislators effectively represent their views in the August House.
In Zimbabwe’s case, President Emmerson Mnangagwa stormed to power in 2017 on the back of a military-backed intervention that ousted long-time ruler, the late Robert Mugabe.
Afrobarometer’s research comes a year after Zimbabwe held a general election marred by a litany of irregularities that were pointed out by the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) electoral observer mission, amongst several other missions.
The polls, which exposed the glaring participation of a shadowy group called Forever Associates of Zimbabwe (Faz) doing Zanu PF’s bidding at voting centres, raised critical questions on whether elections serve their constitutional purpose in a functional democracy.
Two million registered voters did not participate out of the 6,6 million people eligible to vote in the chaotic 2023 elections that were also characterised by inadequate voting material and voting delays.
In a healthy democracy, credible elections give candidates and governments legitimacy. They give the legal right and authority to act on behalf of the people.
At a constituency level, this is conferring the right of a legislator to act on behalf of the area. Broadly, governments claim legitimacy to govern nations because they were fairly elected by the majority.
However, constant threats by the military to intervene in the political sphere, the bludgeoning of opposition activists and harassment of members of the civic society have left an undesirable stain on Zimbabwe’s electoral fabric.
Since Independence in 1980, Zimbabwe has experienced a cycle of vicious political violence and shambolic polls in a long history that has dispirited the electorate.
Zimbabwe’s shambolic management of elections, which always produces contested outcomes has triggered alarming apathy and resulted in the isolation of the country by the international community.
Only political will by the country’s leadership can extricate Zimbabwe from isolation and restore the electorate’s faith in the electoral process.
The head of the regional bloc’s observer mission, former Zambian vice president Nevers Mumba, encouraged Zimbabwe in his report to adhere to its constitution, the Electoral Act and the Sadc principles and guidelines governing democratic elections of 2021.
Anything short of that will reproduce the same disputed outcome when the country goes to the polls in 2028