More than 6 million people are eligible to vote in Zimbabwe’s general election of 2023, where 11 candidates are vying for the presidency.
The 210 seats in the country are expected to have polling places open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. local time (GMT+2).
Voters will cast their ballots at 12,340 polling places throughout its ten provinces to pick the president, members of parliament, senators, and council members in what is being referred to as “harmonized national elections.” A proportional representation system will be used to elect senators; nevertheless, the majority of seats are directly elected.
Nine general elections have been held in Zimbabwe since the country’s independence in 1980, with 10 presidential candidates, including one woman, on the ballot.
The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T)’s Douglas Mwonzora, the head of the official opposition, withdrew from the race due to an unfavorable electoral environment.
As a result, the primary opposition candidate is pastor and advocate Nelson Chamisa, 45, of Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC).
Emerson Mnangagwa, the 80-year-old president who is running for re-election, assumed office in 2018 after the late President Robert Mugabe was overthrown by military generals in November 2017. Since Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980, Mugabe has been in charge.
The current president, Mnangagwa, and Chamisa, who finished second and received a disputed 50.8 percent of the vote in 2018, will square off in the presidential election.
To avoid a repeat election between the top two candidates, the Zimbabwean constitution stipulates that the winner must receive 50% of the votes cast.
After the first round failed to reach the 50% threshold, a second election between President Robert Mugabe and the leader of the recognized opposition, Morgan Tsvangirai, was conducted in 2008. Tsvangirai had received 47.8 percent of the vote in the first round while Mugabe received 43.2 percent.
Tsvangirai withdrew from the repeat election, nevertheless, after widespread violence against his supporters ruined the election campaigns.
The economy, the strangling inflation rate of 176 percent as of June, unemployment, and the future of the Zimbabwe dollar, which was restored in 2019 after a decade of dollarization and has since devalued by more than 80 percent, are key topics in the election.
Officially, one US dollar is equal to 45000 Zimbabwean dollars. The price is higher on the illicit market.
Emerson Mnangagwa, the current president, was a minister and later vice president in the Mugabe administration from 2013 until 2017, before the two parted ways.
He escaped to South Africa, but after the military staged a quiet coup against Mugabe, he came back to assume the leadership.
In a close race in 2018, he was crowned the victor. He has claimed during elections that his government has opened up a lot of economic opportunities that have led to significant investments in important industries like mining and agriculture, and he wants to build on that.
On the other hand, the young Chamisa has pledged to revive the faltering economy, combat corruption, and end Zimbabwe’s exile by re-entering the international community. During Mugabe’s rule, several sanctions were placed on the mineral-rich nation of Southern Africa.
Despite being largely a political process, elections can have an impact on businesses and the economy as a whole. In a vote that many believe could put an end to the protracted economic crisis facing the nation, expectations are muted by worries that the election is tilted in favor of a party that has held power for more than 40 years.
