2018 Zimbabwean general election

Zimbabwean presidential election, 2018

30 July 2018
Turnout	70%
Nominee Emmerson Mnangagwa Nelson Chamisa Party ZANU–PF MDC–T Alliance None MDC Alliance Popular vote 2,460,463 2,147,436 Percentage 50.8% 44.3%
President before election Emmerson Mnangagwa ZANU–PF Elected President Emmerson Mnangagwa ZANU–PF

General elections were held on 30 July 2018 in Zimbabwe to elect the president and members of both houses of parliament.

The likelihood of the elections taking place were called into doubt following the 2017 coup. On 22 November 2017, a ZANU-PF spokesman said that Emmerson Mnangagwa would serve out the remainder of Robert Mugabe's term before the elections due to be held; during or before September 2018. On 20 March 2018, Mnangagwa said he was looking forward to holding elections in July 2018.

On 18 January 2018, President Mnangagwa spoke to the Financial Times in an interview, in which he invited the EU, UN and the Commonwealth to send missions to Zimbabwe in order to monitor the elections.

On 29 July 2018, former President Mugabe gave a surprise press conference during which he stated he would not vote for Mnangagwa and ZANU-PF, the party he founded and led for decades. Instead, he expressed the wish to vote for his long-time rival party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) led by Nelson Chamisa.

On 1 August, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission released preliminary results which show that the ruling party ZANU-PF has won the majority of seats in parliament. On 3 August, the Commission declared incumbent President Emmerson Mnangagwa the winner after receiving 2,460,463 (50.8%) votes to Nelson Chamisa’s 2,147,436 (44.3%)

Electoral system

The President of Zimbabwe is elected using the two-round system.

The 270 members of the House of Assembly consist of 210 members elected in single-member constituencies and 60 women elected by proportional representation in ten six-seat constituencies based on the country's provinces. Voters cast a single vote, which is counted for both forms of election. The 80 members of the Senate include 60 members elected from ten six-member constituencies (also based on the provinces) by proportional representation using party lists; the lists must have a woman at the top and alternate between men and women. The other 20 seats include two reserved for people with disabilities and 18 for traditional chiefs.

According to the Constitution of Zimbabwe, the elections are required to be held before the official expiry date of the current parliamentary term, which is due to end on 21 August 2018.

Presidential candidates

In 2015, long-term President Robert Mugabe announced that he would run for another term in 2018, and was adopted as the ZANU–PF candidate despite the fact that he would have been 94 at the time of the elections. Following the events of a military coup d'état in November 2017 and his deposition as leader of ZANU-PF, Mugabe resigned amidst parliamentary impeachment hearings on 21 November 2017. His successor Emmerson Mnangagwa was chosen as the ZANU–PF candidate shortly after taking office. On 29 July 2018, Robert Mugabe announced he would not support Emmerson Mnangagwa or the ZANU-PF party.

It was unknown whether Morgan Tsvangirai, the long-time Zimbabwe opposition leader would have run in the elections following an announcement on 6 February 2018 which stated that Tsvangirai was critically ill and an MDC party source said "we should brace for the worst". Tsvangirai subsequently died on 14 February. Nelson Chamisa replaced Tsvangirai as the MDC candidate.

On 20 October 2017, the Coalition of Democrats or CODE, a group formed by nine political parties, nominated the leader of the Renewal Democrats of Zimbabwe, Elton Mangoma, to be their presidential candidate in the election.

Joice Mujuru, previously the Vice President of ZANU-PF before being ousted from the party in 2014, also registered her candidacy. Former Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khuphe, who leads a breakaway faction of the MDC after falling out with Nelson Chamisa, was also a candidate.

In total 23 candidates stood for election.

Conduct

The credibility of the elections has been questioned by both Zimbabwe citizens, and the international community. The opposition party have claimed that people aged 141 are registered to vote, and in one instance a single address had over 100 registered voters. Academic Tony Reeler has argued people should boycott the poll, otherwise they would legitimise the 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état. Opposition leader Nelson Chamisa, has indicated that his party will participate in the election, but has requested the intervention of the Southern African Development Community and African Union. The Zimbabwe Republic Police have been accused of requiring officers to cast postal ballots in front of their supervisors, which is contrary to electoral law, which requires them to be a secret ballot. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has removed ghost voters and duplicate voters. In 2015, the ZEC stated that Diaspora voting would be allowed in the 2018 election, however Mnangagwa has ruled this out. Elmar Brok has claimed that ZANU-PF had transported people to vote in an area in which they did not live. On August 1st, the opposition accused the government of rigging the vote. In subsequent riots by MDC supporters, the army opened fire and killed three people, while three others died of their injuries the following day.

Opinion polls

Date(s)	Polling organisation	Sample size	Turnout	Mnangagwa	Chamisa	Undecided	Lead
June 2018	Afrobarometer	–	85%	42%	31%	26%	11%
July 2018	Afrobarometer	2,400	-	40%	37%	20%	3%
30 July 2018	Results	–	70%	50.8%	44.3%	–	6.5%

Results

President

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Emmerson Mnangagwa	ZANU–PF	2,460,463	50.8
	Nelson Chamisa	MDC Alliance	2,147,436	44.3
	Thokozani Khupe	Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai	45,573	0.9
	Joseph Makamba Busha	FreeZim Congress	17,566	0.4
	Nkosana Moyo	Alliance for People’s Agenda	15,223	0.3
	Evaristo Chikanga	Rebuilding Zimbabwe Party	13,141	0.3
	Joice Mujuru	People's Rainbow Coalition	12,878	0.3
	Hlabangana Kwanele	Republican Party	9,449	0.2
	Blessing Kasiyamhuru	Zimbabwe Partnership for Prosperity	7,022	0.1
	William Mugadza	Bethel Christian Party	5,809	0.1
	Divine Mhambi	National Alliance of Patriotic and Democratic Republicans	4,980	0.1
	Peter Wilson	Democratic Opposition Party	4,898	0.1
	Peter Munyanduri	New Patriotic Front	4,529	0.1
	Ambrose Mutinhiri	National Patriotic Front	4,107	0.1
	Daniel Shumba	United Democratic Alliance	3,907	0.1
	Peter Gava	United Democratic Front	2,866	0.1
	Brian Mteki	Independent	2,747	0.1
	Lovemore Madhuku	National Constitutional Assembly	2,738	0.1
	Noah Ngoni Manyika	Build Zimbabwe Alliance	2,678	0.1
	Elton Mangoma	Coalition of Democrats	2,437	0.1
	Melbah Dzepasi	#1980 Freedom Movement Zimbabwe	1,899	0.0
	Violet Mariyacha	United Democracy Movement	1,673	0.0
	Timothy Chiguvare	People’s Progressive Party	1,549	0.0
Invalid/blank votes				–
Total				100
Registered voters/turnout
Source: ZBC

House of Assembly

Party		Seats
		Common	Women	Total	+/–
	ZANU–PF	144	35	179	17
	MDC Alliance	64	24	88	18
	NPF	1	0	1	New
	MDC-T	0	1	1	69
	Independent	1	0	1	1
Total		210	60	270	-
Source: ZEC

Senate

Party		Seats	+/–
	ZANU–PF	34	3
	MDC Alliance	25	4
	Chiefs	18
	People with disabilities	2
	MDC–T	1	20
Total		80	-
Source: ZBC

Controversy

Although the election process was peaceful, there were claims by the main opposition part MDC Alliance that Zanu PF and ZEC rigged the presidential election results to announce Emmerson Mnangagwa the winner. The party claims that there was manipulation of figures which did not tally with what was recorded on V11 forms issued at each polling station. On 10 August, it was announced that Mnangagwa's inauguration which had been scheduled for 12 August would be delayed after Chamisa petitioned to challenge the election results in court.

See also

• 9th Parliament of Zimbabwe

External links

• Zimbabwe Elections Website