A new Afrobarometer report has revealed that nearly eight in 10 Zimbabweans firmly support choosing their leaders through elections and oppose the ruling Zanu PF party’s resolution to extend President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s term without a poll.
The report,
titled Keeping the faith: Zimbabweans express support for elections, concern
over process, found that 79% of citizens prefer regular, open and honest
elections from the local to the presidential level.
This sentiment
places them in direct opposition to Zanu PF’s “2030 agenda”, a senior party
members’ constitutional amendment proposal that would postpone the 2028
elections and extend Mnangagwa’s tenure by two years.
The strong
support for electoral democracy has remained consistent over the past two
decades, despite that the country’s elections have been frequently marred by
violence, corruption and contested outcomes.
The report
noted that despite a history of alleged police brutality, voter intimidation
and electoral irregularities, the public’s faith in the principle of elections
remains unshaken.
“Four in five
Zimbabweans (79%) support choosing their leaders through regular, open and
honest elections, while 21% favour alternative methods,” the report read.
“Among 38
African countries surveyed in 2024/25, Zimbabweans’ support for elections is
above average (74%).
“Among citizens
who trust Zec [Zimbabwe Electoral Commission] ‘a lot’, nine in 10 (90%) support
elections, compared to 70% of those who trust it ‘not at all’.”
The report stated that fewer than half (49%) of
respondents trust Zec “somewhat” or “a lot”, while trust falls sharply as
educational attainment rises.
“A slim
majority (52%) of Zimbabweans rate the 2023 elections as ‘completely free and
fair’ or ‘free and fair with minor problems’,” the report read.
“Three-fourths
(76%) of citizens say they are free to choose whom to vote for without feeling
pressured, up from 65% in 2009.
“Fear of
political intimidation or violence during election campaigns declined sharply
over the same period, from 83% to 31%.”
The report
contextualises these findings against Zimbabwe’s recent political history,
including the military coup that toppled long-time President the late Robert
Mugabe in 2017 and the violent 2008 presidential run-off.
“The share of
citizens who would welcome alternative methods of leadership selection
continues to hover around one-fifth (21% in 2024),” the report read.
“Support for
elections is weaker among youth (75%) than among their elders (80%-87%) and
decreases as educational attainment rises (from 82% among adults with primary
education or less to 74% among degree-holders)”.
The report also
highlights a concerning decline in voter turnout, which dropped to 68,9% in
2023 from 82,5% in 2018, a trend non-governmental organisations attribute to
eroding faith in the electoral process.
The study
underscores that trust in Zec is a critical factor.
While trust has
fluctuated, it has never been held by a majority of the population for an
extended period.
The report
notes significant demographic divides: rural residents (56%) trust Zec more
than urbanites (39%) and trust is more than twice as high among those with only
a primary education (65%) compared to university graduates (29%).
The
Afrobarometer survey, conducted by the Mass Public Opinion Institute in June
2024, involved a nationally-representative sample of 1 200 adult Zimbabweans
and has a margin of error of +/-3 percentage points. Newsday
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