Liberal Democracy is A Myth: A Legislative Response to Election Irregularities in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Elections in Zimbabwe have been marred by electoral irregularities and have been contested and remain a controversial issue which in turn has resulted in some researchers to believe that democracy is unattainable. Faced with a lot of anomalies various legislative measures were effected by the Legislature to deal with electoral irregularities. This article finds out that there is a strong correlation between weak institutions and election irregularities. Another major finding of this article is that although elections are not the be all and end all in achieving democracy but they lay a concrete foundation for democratic consolidation. However, despite various amendments, election irregularities are still a common feature in Zimbabwe. This article concludes that in order to address the anomalies relating to elections, the legislative arm of government in Zimbabwe has come out with numerous initiatives. This study recommends that there is need for political will to deal with issues of amending the Electoral Act and align it with the Constitution of Zimbabwe. This article also recommends that the Government of Zimbabwe should create strong electoral institutions so as to curb election irregularities.