ZIMBABWEENS: Presidential and parliamentary elections in a poisonous climate
Zimbabweans are called to the polls this Wednesday, August 23, for presidential, parliamentary and local elections, with two names standing out among the 11 candidates for the presidency: Emmerson Mnangagwa, the incumbent, and opposition leader Nelson Chamisa, a young lawyer and pastor, an election taking place in a very tense atmosphere.
This is the second election to be held since the 2017 military coup that ousted strongman Robert Mugabe, who has led the country since independence in 1980.
The opposition, historically strong in the cities, is hoping to win a protest vote rooted in growing anger over a stricken economy, marked by record unemployment and constant hyperinflation.
The favorite is current president Emmerson Mnangagwa, 80, leader of the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), which has governed the country since independence in 1980. At the end of 2017, he was placed at the top of the state as the army ended Robert Mugabe’s thirty-seven-year reign against a backdrop of internal rivalries. A former right-hand man of the deposed president, Emmerson Mnangagwa was officially elected in July 2018 after promising a panoply of democratic and economic reforms. But at the end of his first term in office, the verdict is unanimous: nothing resembles the old Zimbabwe more than the new one.
As for Nelson Chamisa, his rival who had already narrowly lost in 2018, he launched his program just two weeks before the elections: some accuse him of a lack of vision. His party, the Citizens’ Coalition for Change, or “Triple C”, denounces intimidation and the banning of its meetings by the authorities: on August 3, a CCC activist was stoned to death by alleged Zanu-PF supporters.
The economy is at the heart of the concerns of the 6.6 million voters. Inflation was 101% in July, according to official figures.
The president is elected by absolute majority. If no candidate wins 50% of the vote plus one, a second round is held.
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