Vol 54 No 15 | ZIMBABWE Rushing and cheating 19th July 2013 A tightened election timetable with almost a third of eligible voters missing from the register leaves plenty of space for a nationwide gerrymander It was uncharacteristically foolish of President Robert Mugabe to fast-track the election date to 31 July, in the face of protests from some in his own party and the opposition, an...
Vol 54 No 15 | ZIMBABWE Dress rehearsal vote 19th July 2013 The prospects for free, fair and transparent elections on 31 July took another knock with the chaotic ‘special votes’ on 14-15 July. The problems were mainly logistical...
Vol 54 No 14 | ZIMBABWE Election fever and finance 5th July 2013 Even if ZANU-PF loses the argument over the election date, its business and military backers put it ahead of the MDC The Constitutional Court will soon announce its decision on granting an extension to the 31 July election date. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has been pressing ...
Vol 54 No 14 | ZIMBABWE Diamond votes 5th July 2013 The death in a car accident of Edward Chindori-Chininga, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Mining and Minerals, came within days of its damning report on revenue losse...
Vol 54 No 13 | ZIMBABWE Mugabe wins voting day drama 21st June 2013 In a piece of political theatre, President Mugabe asks the Constitutional Court to reconsider its decision on the election date but the vote will still go ahead Although it now seems likely that the Constitutional Court will bow to pressure and postpone the election for a few weeks beyond 31 July, the beneficiaries of any Court review are ...
Vol 54 No 12 | ZIMBABWE A change of register 7th June 2013 By seven to two, the Zimbabwe Constitutional Court ruled on 31 May that elections must take place before 31 July, a month after Parliament expires under the old constitution. Now, ...
Vol 54 No 11 | ZIMBABWE Electoral roll on, roll off 24th May 2013 President Robert Mugabe’s chances of holding elections acceptable to the Southern African Development Community before July have been dashed. This, however, owes more to the partis...
Vol 54 No 10 | ZIMBABWE A June meddling 10th May 2013 President Robert Mugabe is insisting on general elections by 29 June, when the present Parliament ends, despite the objections of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
Vol 54 No 7 | ZIMBABWE ZANU-PF wins the referendum 29th March 2013 Tsvangirai’s MDC didn’t do enough to prevent the new basic law giving Mugabe’s party the right to decide who succeeds him The real winners of the constitutional referendum were the hardliners of the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front. They now have a document that enshrines ZANU-PF's supr...
Vol 54 No 6 | ZIMBABWE Vote now, pay later 15th March 2013 All parties want the same result in the 16 March referendum but it holds dangers, especially concerning the presidential succession The referendum on 16 March takes place less than a month after the starting gun was fired. No one doubts a favourable result but only the turnout will indicate the level of enthusi...
