A Critical Analysis of the Role of Civil Society in Zimbabwe’s 2018 Harmonized Elections

Olivia Gumbo

doi:10.4236/ojps.2020.102020

Abstract

This paper seeks to analyse the role that civil society in Zimbabwe played in 2018 harmonised elections. The objectives of the paper were to understand the role of civil society organisations (CSOs) in the electoral process and the impact of CSOs in the electoral process and voter turn-out. The study used qualitative methodology to gather data from secondary data, key informants and respondents of individual interviews. The main findings of the study are that the CSOs contributed to the improved electoral process and increased voter turnout through their participation in pre, during and post-electoral interventions. The main conclusion is that the CSOs are important stakeholders in electoral processes who play a watch dog role for Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. The CSOs also disseminate voters’ education to citizens. The study recommends the CSOs to engage more with the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and policy makers to influence the alignment of electoral laws with the constitution and push for full implementation of electoral laws.

Highlights

The main purpose of the paper is to critically analyse the role that the civil society organisations performed towards the 2018 Zimbabwe harmonised elections
This paper concluded that the civil society organisations (CSOs) are critical partners in the electoral process
Their contributions were valued by ZEC which led to improvements in the way elections were conducted

Summary

Introduction

The main purpose of the paper is to critically analyse the role that the civil society organisations performed towards the 2018 Zimbabwe harmonised elections. The background to the problem is briefly given . Zimbabwe held her harmonised elections on the 31st of July 2018. These were the country’s first elections without the participation of Robert Mugabe, who ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years. The economic hardships and the dependency of the population in some rural areas, on food aid and state development projects made voters vulnerable to manipulation and intimidation (European Union Election Observation Mission, 2018)

Objectives

Results

Conclusion