The country’s last election, in 2018, occurred a year after a military coup ended Robert Mugabe’s oppressive 37-year-long leadership. But contrary to the hopes of many Zimbabweans and foreign governments, that ballot did not prove to be a momentous break from the country’s extensive history of disputed and violent elections, underscoring that powerful systemic problems, such as the conflation of the ruling Zanu PF party and the state, generate flawed elections in Zimbabwe.

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Whether Zimbabwe can finally stage an election that is universally accepted as credible is one of the key issues in 2023, according to an article by the Zimbabwean media house News Day. A credible election in itself will not bring about consequential political, economic and social reforms. But Western states and international donors such as the International Monetary Fund will be looking for an unblemished national vote as a prerequisite to earnest economic and diplomatic re-engagement with Zimbabwe after years of strained relations.

Women's political rights

Observers will also be hoping for improvements in women’s political rights. The gendered nature of political leadership, violence, election campaigns, and voting behaviour has precluded equal representation for women in Zimbabwean politics. Women candidates won only 26 of the 210 constituencies in the 2018 parliamentary election.

Although four women ran for president in 2018, none managed more than 4% of the vote share.

The future of opposition politics is also on the ballot. Since 2018, the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party has had to contend with state repression, internal splits and underfunding. In the intervening years, it has failed to get large numbers of new voters onto the electoral register.

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If the ruling Zanu PF party pulls off the overwhelming election victory it is working towards, it is likely that the opposition will be further saddled with division and disillusionment, posing an existential threat to the kind of vibrant opposition politics led by the MDC in the past two decades. And with no strong opposition to challenge and keep a check on Zanu PF, the danger is that authoritarian rule will be solidified.

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