Parties play a crucial role in elections for they reflect the configuration of political power in the contestation for state control. Political parties constitute an important medium for citizens’ participation in the political process during and between elections. How have parties fared in the context of the Zimbabwe political situation, in particular during the 2005 […]
This paper examines the 2005 elections in Zimbabwe in the context of persistent gender inequalities that have existed since 1980. These inequalities have been exacerbated by an entrenched patriarchal culture and an electoral system that neither facilitates nor adds value to the increased representation and participation of women. The 31 March 2005 parliamentary elections in […]
Since 2000 elections in Zimbabwe have been characterised by bitter struggles, mainly between the ruling party, the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). In the 2000 parliamentary elections and the 2002 presidential elections these struggles became so violent that lives were lost on both sides, with the […]
What explains the re-emergence of the National Youth Service/Militia, launched in Zimbabwe in August 2001? This paper argues that, amid the intense political struggle between the ruling party and a largely worker- and urban-society-based political opposition, there was an urgent need to have in place a cheap and available institution that could be relied upon […]
In February 2000 Zimbabweans went to the polls to vote on a draft constitution for their country. The draft contained some important provisions for, amongst other things, the reform of the country’s electoral system. The draft was rejected and a bitter general election campaign ensued in the second quarter of 2000. The general election held […]
The inclusion of women in decision-making is a fundamental human right and an issue of social justice. There can be no democracy where ‘decisions about changing the lives of people are taken without the participation of more than half of the very lives that have to be changed. It cannot be participatory democracy when decisions […]
This paper explores practices in and approaces to observing election and calling elections ‘free and fair’ in the context of the Zimbabwe parliamentary election of June 2000. The analysis incorporates considerations of the ‘politics of election observation’ and the ‘politics of calling elections’ and examines these factors in the context of the hosting country. The […]
