Presidential Election in Zimbabwe (2018)

Voter registration in anticipation of the upcoming elections began in September 2017, according to the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN ), in order to improve the quality of voter lists by accurately recording their data ^[2] .

Back in 2016, President Robert Mugabe announced that he intends to run for a new term in 2018 as a candidate from ZANS-PF , despite the fact that during the election he will be 94 years old ^{[3] [4]} . However, in November 2017, in the worsened conflict between the president’s wife, Grace Mugabe , and Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa Mugabe, the latter dismissed ^[5] , which led to the intervention of the army and the forced removal of Mugabe from power. He officially resigned on November 21, and Mnangagwa took his place ^[6] .

Despite the early resignation of Mugabe, plans for a general election in 2018 remained in force ^[7] . The election date - July 30, 2018 - was announced by Mnangagwa, the current president of Zimbabwe, on May 30 of that year ^[2] . For the first time since 2002, foreign observers were allowed to vote in this country ^[8] . If not a single presidential candidate had won an absolute majority of votes in the first round of voting, the second round would have taken place on September 8 ^[9] .

The Zimbabwe election commission, until the last moment, refused to publish full voter lists until July 28 it was ordered to do so by decision of the Supreme Court. The policy of the election commission, as well as the actions of the police, which prevented the holding of opposition rallies, caused accusations of bias and support of the ruling regime and even threats of opposition parties to boycott the elections, but in the end these threats were disavowed ^[10] . European observers noted that although the elections are held in a more relaxed atmosphere than in the past, candidates are placed in unequal conditions due to abuse of power resources and politically biased press, as well as cases of intimidation of voters ^[11] .

On Sunday, July 29, on the eve of the election, Robert Mugabe, despite being deprived of his post as president, which is popular among a large part of the country's population, made his first political statement to reporters. He announced that he “could not” vote for the people responsible for his removal from power, to which Mnangagwa also belonged, and would make a choice between the other candidates ^[12] .

On October 20, 2017, a Democratic Coalition formed of nine political parties nominated leader Elton Mangoma as a candidate in the presidential election. ^[13]

On November 19, even before Mugabe’s official resignation, the ruling ZANS-PF party nominated Emmerson Mnangagwa as a candidate for the presidency in the 2018 election ^[14] .

The long-standing opposition leader and former prime minister, head of the Movement for Democratic Change, Morgan Tsvangirai, did not live up to the 2018 election, having died of colorectal cancer in February. Nelson Chamiza , the first leader of the party’s youth organization after its founding in 1999, became the presidential candidate for the DDP Alliance. ^[7]

Joyce Mujuru , formerly the country's first vice president (until expelled from ZANS-PF in 2014), and former deputy prime minister Tokozani Khupe, who leads the faction that broke away from the Movement for Democratic Change after the conflict with Chamiza, were also registered as candidates ^[8] . In total, 23 candidates from different parties and associations took part in the presidential election ^[2] .

Although Zimbabwe does not have an established system of pre-election polls ^[8] , several such polls were held before the 2018 elections. A survey of the Afrobarometer organization, conducted from April 28 to May 13, showed an 11% margin in favor of the candidate from the ruling party, Emmerson Mnangagwa ^[10] . In the first decade of June, in the second most populated city in the country, Bulawayo , an informal survey was conducted by the Institute of Public Opinion; according to the results of this poll, Mnangagwa also outstripped the leading opposition candidate, Nelson Chamizu, by 11% (42% answered against 31%, with 25% refused to indicate the candidate for whom they would vote) ^[8] . A representative national survey, conducted from June 25 to July 6 and covering 2,400 respondents, indicated an increase in the struggle - according to him, the separation of the candidate from the ruling party was only 3 percent (with a margin of error of 2%) ^[10] .

Approximately 5.4 million Zimbabweans enjoyed voting rights at the election date. ^[8] Even before the polls closed, the Zimbabwean election commission reported that approximately 70% of the number voted ^[12] ; later, the percentage of voters rose to 75; many voters had to stand a long line in order to exercise their voting right ^[1] .

Even before the official completion of the vote, the leadership of the DDP Alliance declared victory. However, this provoked a sharp reaction from the authorities, who warned that any person making statements about the results of the elections before the official communiqué of the election commission could be imprisoned. At the same time, one of the country's leadership, on condition of anonymity, told the press that ZANS-PF and Mnangagva won a landslide victory ^[9] .

Opposition continued to charge allegations of fraudulent election results, international observers also expressed concern. Although, according to the law, the election results should be summed up by the election commission within five days, the DDP already on July 31 accused the commission of delaying time in order to falsify the results ^[9] . It was noted that contrary to the requirements of the law that the voting results for each of 10,985 polling stations should be posted at its entrance, this was not done in 20% of cases. This meant that the distribution of about a million votes could not be verified by independent observers. For its part, the government accused Chamiz and DDP-Ts of inciting violence ^[1] .

On Wednesday, August 1, the election commission announced that ZANS-PF, which won in the agricultural regions of the country with a big advantage, will receive a majority in the House of Assembly . At the time of the announcement, results were obtained for 152 of 210 constituencies, in 109 of which ZANS-PF won, and in 41 (mainly in cities) - DDP. It was later reported that the ruling party was gaining two-thirds of the seats in the House of Assembly (145 of 210 ^[15] ) - the majority needed to make unilateral amendments to the country's constitution. Although the results of the presidential election have not yet been announced, the results already obtained have led to mass demonstrations by the opposition, which were dispersed by police and soldiers in the capital, Harare . Several demonstrators died ^[11] . About 30 people were arrested, including 8 functionaries of the PDP Alliance ^[16] . The headquarters of the DDP was cordoned off by the police ^[17] .

The final results published by the election commission on the night of August 2–3 meant the victory of Mnangava already in the first round: he received 50.8% of the actual votes (2 460 463 votes), and Chamiz - 44.3% (2 147 437). At the same time, the incumbent president won in six out of ten provinces (Masvingo, South Matabelend, East, Central and West Mashonaland and Midlands), the candidate from the Democratic Party - in four (Bulawayo, North Matabelend, Manikaland and Harare) ^[18] .

Nelson Chamiza and the DDP Alliance refused to recognize the “fake” results announced by the commission. Although Chamiza claimed he did not believe in the independence of the judiciary in Zimbabwe, his party intended to challenge the announced results in court. ^[19] On August 10, it became known that the inauguration of Mnangawa, scheduled for August 12, was postponed due to an appeal to the Zimbabwean Constitutional Court against the results of the vote ^[20] . A few days later, the ruling party filed a counterclaim with the Constitutional Court; according to Zimbabwean law, a court must render a decision within 14 days ^[21] . On August 24, the Constitutional Court unanimously rejected allegations of fraud and confirmed the announced election results, according to which Mnangagwa became president ^[22] .

• Zheltov M.V. Election of the President of Zimbabwe without Mugabe: between dictatorship and civil war (neopr.) . InterIzbirkom. Information and analytical portal about the elections in the world (August 3, 2018). Date of treatment August 3, 2018.