Electoral lesson from neighbours
THE past few years have been monumental in the sub-Saharan African region. A number of countries have had elections that ushered in change of the governments, with Malawi having Lazarus Chakwera ascending to the highest office in the land.
Zambia had also a clear and clean, peaceful transition after the elections.
Finally, Kenya has just held elections and ushering in new leadership. These elections have sparked wide interest in the Zimbabwean community, especially on social media spaces. There is a hunger for change and one could not help but see the sparks of hope for change in the country.
Zimbabwe heads to elections in 2023 and commentary in the country has been focused on what has been achieved in other countries and what could be learnt. In Malawi, Chakwera was contesting against incumbent Peter Mutharika. The incumbent was accused of rigging the elections and the courts annulled those results.
The rerun of the elections saw Chakwera win the elections. There were two major events that many Zimbabweans identified with the victory. First of all, there have always been reports of election rigging and maladministration in the country.
The deficient trust levels for the electoral systems in the country were seen in the August 1 shootings after the July 2018 elections.
The opposition contested the outcome of the elections, and due to not having sufficient V11s, they could not prove beyond reasonable doubt in a court of law that indeed the elections had been stolen.
This court of public opinion might have been won over, but the theatrics in court did not give the people the change they had hoped for.
However, another African country, where reports of abuse of power by the incumbent and the control of the state, saw the judicial overturn the election result was monumental - victory and a spark of hope for the Zimbabwean person on the street.
Secondly the idea that someone from the opposition could win an election and ascend to power meant that this could be Zimbabwe’s reality.
Another critical election that took place was that of Zambia. Just like their neighbours, Zambia had gone through an economic decline at some point in history. The economy was not one of the best and there was an appetite for change, especially among young people. Another similarity as has been highlighted by the opposition was the fact that the incumbent, Edgar Lungu was accused of abusing state power, using violence against his opponents and even arresting opposition leaders on frivolous charges.
The state had control of the media and the opposition was muzzled under that regime. However, despite multiple arrests the opposition managed to mobilise the youth vote and Lungu had no choice but to concede power. This was another moment where the hope for change in Zimbabwe was reignited, so many similarities but in the end the opposition prevailed.
Recently, Kenya went to the polls and once again there was renewed interest from the Zimbabwean populace. The opposition in Zimbabwe has been calling for electoral reforms in times past and more transparency in the running of elections.
For the first time in Kenya, the media had access to the server and they could tally the results and this was hailed as the most effective way of combating election fraud.
However, as we have learnt, the transparency only aided in causing confusion and anxiety among the population. Even with all the transparency, commentators have noted that the media was not prepared for the huge task and that the whole process was abandoned.
In conclusion, one can note that as has happened in the region, change is possible and it is plausible to think about. It is also worth noting that when things are at their lowest it will not guarantee change, but there is a need for massive youth mobilisation to see the same effects the youth had in Malawi and Zambia.
The need to change electoral laws and the ones that people need to see changed cannot be understated. Zwitter has engaged in robust debates on these issues and tried to take some lessons, and hopefully the political players have been following and plucking and learning from these regional developments.