The Zimbabwe Elections: Feat or Failure? Claims of Foul Play, Fraud and Protester Deaths Call Democracy into Question

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WORDS Connor Foley

The 2018 Zimbabwe general elections were hailed a landmark test for whether democracy would prevail in the politically-divided country. But when the results were released, concerns of fraud surfaced and violent protests erupted, which then begged the question, just how successful were these highly-anticipated elections? 

Some 5.5 million people registered to vote on 30 July, 200,000 of whom were new voters. It was the first election without former president Robert Mugabe on the ballot in nearly 40 years after he was removed from office by the military last year.

Despite having the largest number of presidential candidates in Zimbabwean political history, the campaign proved to be a hearty battle between the leaders of the two main parties.

At centre stage was 75-year-old Emmerson Mnangagwa of the ruling Zanu-PF. His challenger was the 40-year-old lawyer Nelson Chamisa, the leader for the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Alliance. Chamisa took over the reins after former party leader Morgan Tsvangirai died last year.

Many hope the outcome from the 2018 election will move Zimbabwe past its dark history with Robert Mugabe. Photo: Gareth Milner/flickr.com

The Multi-Party Liaison Committees (MPLCs) was established to facilitate election proceedings and recruited approximately 130,000 polling officials for the 10,985 polling stations to ensure things ran smoothly.

The campaign trail leading up to the election proved relatively peaceful compared to previous years – other than a grenade attack at Mnangagwa’s 23 June rally, in which 2 died and at least 49 people were injured. However, the otherwise non-violent atmosphere quickly changed when the vote count was released.

Results spark unrest

After some delay in announcing the results, the electoral commission declared that the Zanu-PF party won 50.8% of the vote, narrowly reaching the 50% required to avoid a run-off against the MDC, who won 44.3%. This showed Zanu-PF winning 144 of the 210 elected seats in the national assembly, while the MDC gained 64 – the two parties accounting for all but two of the seats.

This was immediately followed by unrest as MDC supporters took to the streets to protest, claiming the results were fraudulent. The protests were met with military resistance and the firing of live ammunition at protesters, leaving six people dead and 27 arrested.

The violence leaves an asterisk on the historic election and dashed any remaining hopes of peaceful conduct. The use of military force by the ruling party was eerily reminiscent of the Mugabe-regime, which often used the military to crush political resistance and maintain power.

Gideon Chitanga, a political economist who has worked with the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CZC) –the country’s largest group of non-governmental organisations – believes the incident repainted a picture of the country’s violent past.

‘When demonstrators were shot in Harare, the Mnangagwa-regime exhibited a trait that always been suspected, but on this day was demonstrated,’ he says.

‘It’s a very oppressive regime and when it’s cornered or threatened, can resort to excessive force and killing innocent people, which was the case under former president Mugabe.’

Chitanga admits this election was better than previous ones, but until results are not disputed and the elected leaders abide to presidential term limits, there is still a long way to go.

‘It was a big improvement in terms of stability; in terms of a certain acceptable level of freedom of expression and association, but in terms of the history of election results it’s very similar,’ he says.

‘The fact that Zimbabwe ended with another disputed election outcome, for me, says that we can take note of an incremental improvement but the fundamental question still needs to be resolved.’

‘The fact that Zimbabwe ended with another disputed election outcome, for me, says that we can take note of an incremental improvement but the fundamental question still needs to be resolved,’ says Gideon Chitanga.

Chitanga continues, ‘That means power can only be gained through people voting for their leader and the will of the people must and should be respected by both the opposition and the ruling party.’

The MDC not only disputed the election results on the streets, but in the courtroom.

Chamisa filed a constitutional court challenge based on claims that the electoral process wasn’t conducted in a legitimate way or in line with the constitution. He said their results showed he had won 61% of the popular vote.

This challenge was later dismissed by the court, which said he failed to prove the allegations of vote fraud.

President Cyril Ramaphosa (right) called to congratulate Emmerson Mnangagwa (left) and Zanu-PF for their election win. Photo: GovernmentZA/flickr.com

Although the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) and the court declared the elections fair, a grey area looms over the legitimacy of their decision. For example, in previous elections where Mugabe demonstrated fraudulent and undemocratic methods, the disputed results were often backed by the ZEC and public institutions. Even Zimbabwe’s judiciary system has been linked to bias and corruption since the turn of the 21st century under Mugabe’s reign. 

A closer look at this year’s results from the ZEC – which were published in The Herald – scream of far more than minor errors.

Voters, ballots and counted votes don’t add up

The anomalies in the results include more ballot papers being counted than there were registered voters, results differing at times between the commission and what was released online, exact figures being repeated at different polling stations (including candidates scoring the same number of votes) and the total results not adding up to 100% of the vote.

Furthermore, although the ZEC published results showing turnout voter figures of over 4.7 million people, they also originally said that 72% of registered voters (approximately 4 million people) had gone to the polls.

A difference of 700,000 voters goes well beyond any reasonable type of miscalculation. The figure is particularly startling when the results revealed that Mnanagagwa won only 313,027 more votes than Chamisa and at 50.8% of the vote, barely scraped the 50% threshold needed.

Several observer groups (both local and international) were also invited to oversee the election and highlighted a number of flaws with the process.

The CZC claimed the election ‘falls short of a credible process.’ In particular, it stated that approximately a fifth of the results from the presidential ballot weren’t published outside polling stations and that the voters’ roll wasn’t released prior to the polls.

Young Zimbabweans will be the most adversely affected if the country can’t begin a new chapter. Photo: Kate Holt/IRIN

Intimidation a major concern

The Zimbabwe International Election Observation Mission (ZIEOM) released a comprehensive report that highlighted food aid and intimidation tactics as two major faults.

They accused Zanu-PF of ‘the politicisation of food aid’ and using it as leverage to gain votes. This is substantial when over two and a half million Zimbabweans are currently at a risk of hunger. NGO Zimbabwe Peace Project says it received a number of reports of people being denied food aid because of their affiliation to other political parties.

ZIEOM said there were also incidents of military personnel dressing in civilian clothing and conducting politically intimidating activities. It claimed this, among other similar actions, undermined voters’ free will.

The claims are substantiated by actions such as the army’s deployment of 5,000 soldiers into rural areas in the months leading up to the polls.

The report also acknowledged some significant improvements from past elections, in particular that ‘the opposition was generally free to campaign across the country without the widespread violence and harassment of the past’.

The European Union voiced their disapproval; saying that they didn’t believe Zimbabwe had created a ‘level playing field’ in the elections.

Other concerns cited by observer groups include inadequate voting materials and voter education, observers still being denied access in certain polling areas, and village heads acting as election agents.

While the observers found a variety of issues that jeopardised a democratic election, the fact that international observers were allowed to attend – the first time since 2002 – is a positive development.

Media bias was another grave concern. The Zimbabwean media is largely state-owned and has frequently lacked balanced coverage and neutrality. Zimbabwe is currently ranked 126 out of 179 countries according to the 2018 World Press Freedom Index released by Reporters Without Borders.

Media Monitors is an organisation that ‘conducts media monitoring and analyses trends in the Zimbabwean media.’ They covered the days prior to the election and found unbalanced coverage favouring the ruling party, as well as an overall lack of objectivity.

Regarding state-controlled media, their analysis found that the MDC Alliance received 97% of all negative coverage while Zanu-PF enjoyed 90% of positive coverage. They also stated that 33% of all monitored reports were not neutral.

Prisiel Samu, a research officer at Media Monitors, says an objective media is important as a provider of information to the voters.

‘Biased coverage gives a skewed impression of the electoral context; it hinders the electorate’s capacity to make an informed choice about a political actor or political party since they have very little information,’ says Prisiel Samu, research officer at Media Monitors

‘Biased coverage gives a skewed impression of the electoral context; it hinders the electorate’s capacity to make an informed choice about a political actor or political party since they have very little information,’ he says.

‘The media remains polarised in its representation of political parties, a challenge that is deeply rooted in the political economy of Zimbabwe.’

Samu says the Zimbabwean media must be regulated to allow journalists to perform their duties free of political pressures.

In the final years Mugabe was in power, he caused serious deficit to the Zimbabwe economy. Photo: theatlas.com

‘There is an urgent need for self regulation of the media and an independent body of media stakeholders should be given the mandate to regulate the media. That way journalists and editors would be answerable to their peers and not to political actors… this enables them to critique the status quo and hold government authorities accountable for their actions or lack thereof,’ Samu says.

After the court challenge proved unsuccessful, Mnangagwa was officially sworn in as president on 26 August in Harare. He pledged a bright and unified future for the nation, saying ‘now is the time for us all to unite as a nation and grow our economy.’

Whether he will live up to this promise remains to be seen, but the reality is Mnangagwa’s election win is the first of many tough challenges he will face as president. The country currently faces a severe economic and political crisis, which will only worsen if Mnangagwa shows a likeness to his predecessor and isn’t truly devoted to the country’s betterment.

Until the ruling party’s influence over public institutions can be eliminated and the military no longer used as an intimidation tool, Zimbabwe’s elections cannot be defined as truly democratic. They may have taken a step in the right direction in the wake of Mugabe, but they still face a very long road ahead.

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