General elections were held in Zimbabwe on 29 March 2008 to elect the president and Parliament. Because of Zimbabwe's dire economic situation, the elections were expected to provide incumbent President Robert Mugabe with his toughest electoral challenge to date. Mugabe's opponents were critical of the handling of the electoral process, and the government was accused of planning to rig the election. Human Rights Watch said that the election was likely to be "deeply flawed." The elections were characterized by violence.
No official results were announced for more than a month after the first round. The failure to release results was strongly criticised by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, which unsuccessfully sought an order from the High Court to force their release. An independent projection placed its leader Morgan Tsvangirai in the lead, but without the majority needed to avoid a second round, whilst the MDC declared that Tsvangirai won a narrow majority in the first round and initially refused to participate in any second round. After the recount and the verification of the results, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) announced on 2 May that Tsvangirai won 47.9% of the vote and Mugabe 43.2%, necessitating a run-off, which was to be held on 27 June 2008. Despite Tsvangirai's continuing claims to have won a first round majority, he decided to participate in the second round. The period following the first round was marked by political violence. ZANU–PF and the MDC each blamed the other's supporters for perpetrating the violence; Western governments and prominent Western and human rights organisations blamed ZANU–PF for the violence. On 22 June 2008, Tsvangirai announced that he was withdrawing from the run-off, describing it as a "violent sham" and saying that his supporters risked being killed if they voted for him. The second round of elections went ahead with Mugabe as the only actively participating candidate, although Tsvangirai's name remained on the ballot. Mugabe won the second round by an overwhelming margin and was sworn in for another term as president on 29 June.
In the parliamentary elections, ZANU–PF lost its majority in the House of Assembly for the first time since independence in 1980, as the two factions of the MDC won most of the seats; a month after the election, the MDC factions merged.
Background
In late 2006 a plan was proposed that would have delayed the elections to 2010, at the same time as the next parliamentary election, which was said to be a cost-saving measure. This would have lengthened President Mugabe's term by two years. However, there was reportedly dissent within the ruling ZANU–PF regarding the proposal, and it was never approved. In March 2007, Mugabe said that he thought the feeling in the party favoured having the presidential election in 2008, and moving the parliamentary election up by two years instead. He also said that he would be willing to stand for another term if chosen by the party. On 30 March 2007, it was announced that the ZANU–PF Central Committee had chosen Mugabe as the party's candidate for another term in 2008, that presidential terms would be reduced to five years instead of six, and that the parliamentary election would also be held in 2008. Later, information was leaked from the same meeting that ZANU–PF had adopted the position of making Mugabe president-for-life.
On 25 January 2008, the date of the election was announced as 29 March. A spokesperson for the faction of the MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai denounced this as "an act of madness and arrogance", while the leader of the other MDC faction, Arthur Mutambara, said that a free and fair election could not be held under the existing conditions, calling for a new constitution to be adopted prior to the election. Talks between the MDC and ZANU–PF collapsed following the announcement of the election date; the MDC had wanted the dialogue to affect the election, while ZANU–PF wanted to hold the election on schedule in March and for any changes agreed in the talks only to take effect afterwards.
Electoral system
President
An amendment to the Electoral Act in 2005 meant that this was the first time a presidential candidate was required to win a majority of the vote, introducing a second round if necessary.
There were about 5.9 million registered voters and about 11,000 polling stations, compared to about 4,000 polling stations in the 2005 parliamentary election. The Zimbabwe Election Support Network said that there were insufficient polling stations in urban areas, where the opposition is considered stronger, while the availability of polling stations was better in rural areas, where ZANU–PF is considered stronger. According to the Electoral Commission, it planned to deploy 107,690 polling officers to oversee voting.
The Public Holidays and Prohibition of Business Notice 2008, published on 17 March, declared 29 March to be a public holiday. This was accompanied by the Presidential Powers (Temporary Measures) (Amendment of Electoral Act) (No. 2) Regulations, 2008, which allows police to enter polling stations. This ended a previous law, put in place in 2007 as a result of talks between ZANU–PF and the MDC, that required police to stay 100 meters away from polling stations. The regulations amended Sections 59 and 60 of the Electoral Act, providing for electoral officers and police officers to assist illiterate voters (in the case of Section 59) and physically incapacitated voters (in the case of Section 60). The change was criticised by Tsvangirai and Makoni.
Other changes agreed upon in the talks between ZANU–PF and the MDC included the posting of results outside of polling stations and the provision that, if state television aired any candidate's advertising, then it had to also air advertising from other candidates. Security laws that could be used to prevent MDC rallies were also moderated. The new rules also stipulated that presidential results may only be announced by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.
Parliament
The House of Assembly was expanded from 150 to 210 members, all elected, in the 2008 election, while the Senate expanding to 93 seats, 60 of which were directly elected (six from each province). There were 29 constituencies in Harare, 28 in Midlands, 26 in Manicaland, 18 in Mashonaland Central, 23 in Mashonaland East, 22 in Mashonaland West, 26 in Masvingo, 13 in Matabeleland North, and 13 in Matabeleland South, and 12 in Bulawayo. Unlike in previous elections, when constituency voter rolls were used, ward voter rolls were used in the 2008 election. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission delimited 1,958 wards.
Prior to the election being held, ZANU–PF won two seats where it was unopposed: the House of Assembly seat from Muzarabani South, won by Edward Raradza, and the Senate seat from Rushinga, won by Damien Mumvuri. Three candidates of the MDC faction led by Mutambara died prior to the election, resulting in the elections for those seats being delayed. Glory Makwati, a candidate in the Gwanda South constituency, died in late February; this was followed on 29 February by the death of Milton Gwetu, the MP for Mpopoma, who was running for re-election. On 13 March, Abednico Malinga, another MP of the MDC Mutambara faction who was standing as a candidate, died in a car crash. He had represented Silobela constituency in the House of Assembly and was running in 2008 as a candidate in Redcliff constituency.
Campaign
Presidential candidacies
In 2006, ZANU–PF National chairman John Nkomo was one of the first to announce he would be ready to contest the election for ZANU–PF if Mugabe chose to retire. Abel Muzorewa, the only prime minister of Zimbabwe Rhodesia, suggested on 21 June 2007 that he might run, claiming that people were urging him to do so. However, Mugabe was chosen by acclamation as ZANU–PF's presidential candidate for the 2008 election by delegates at a December 2007 party congress. John Nkomo said that he "did not hear any dissenting voices" and that the congress had "fully and unreservedly" backed Mugabe.
Talks to unite the two MDC factions behind the candidacy of Tsvangirai, the leader of the main faction, broke down on 3 February 2008. Mutambara apologised to the people for this failure, while Tsvangirai said that unity could not be imposed by force. Analysts viewed the opposition's failure to unite as making Mugabe's re-election a near-certainty, although Tsvangirai, while expressing regret, said that he believed the opposition still had "a fighting chance" of victory.
Simba Makoni, a former Finance Minister who was a leading member of ZANU–PF, formally announced on 5 February 2008 that he would be a candidate, running as an independent, but campaigning through the Mavambo/Kusile/Dawn organisation. Joseph Chinotimba from the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association threatened Makoni, and ZANU–PF declared Makoni to be expelled from the party; it said that anyone supporting him would be expelled as well. On 11 February, Tsvangirai confirmed that he would be the candidate of his faction of the MDC in the election, ending speculation that he might rally behind Makoni's candidacy. Although Tsvangirai said that Makoni was a patriot, he was otherwise sharply critical, saying that Makoni had "been part of the establishment for the last 30 years" and therefore shared responsibility with Mugabe for Zimbabwe's situation. He furthermore expressed his view that Makoni intended to merely "reform an institutionalised dictatorship" and was "old wine in a new bottle".
On 15 February 2008, Mugabe, Tsvangirai, and Makoni filed their nomination papers and were confirmed as candidates by Ignatius Mushangwe, the Electoral Commission's presiding officer. Mugabe's papers were submitted by Emmerson Mnangagwa, while Tsvangirai's were submitted by Nelson Chamisa; Makoni submitted his papers in person. A fourth candidate, Langton Towungana, was also confirmed, running as an independent. William Gwata of the Christian Democratic Party attempted to run, but his papers were rejected because they were judged as not meeting the criteria, while Daniel Shumba, formerly of ZANU–PF, appeared too late to submit his papers. Zimbabwe People's Party Justine Chiota also attempted to run, but the Electoral Commission rejected his nomination papers. Mutambara announced on the same day that he would not run for president and would instead back Makoni, while contesting the parliamentary election in Zengeza West. Makoni nevertheless stressed that he was running alone and was "not in an alliance with anyone".
Mugabe spoke about Makoni's candidacy for the first time on 21 February, calling it "absolutely disgraceful", comparing Makoni to a prostitute, and saying that Makoni had a self-important attitude. Mugabe also said on the same occasion that Western countries would not be permitted to send observers for the election. Also on 21 February, the MDC factions said that their dialogue with ZANU–PF, which collapsed after the announcement of the election date in January, had failed. The factions said that the outcome of the election would not be legitimate.
Opinion polls
A survey, conducted by the University of Zimbabwe and reported by The Herald on 28 March, predicted that ZANU–PF would win 137 House of Assembly seats and 41 Senate seats, that the MDC faction led by Tsvangirai would win 53 House of Assembly seats and 13 Senate seats, and that the MDC faction led by Mutambara would win 18 House of Assembly seats and six Senate seats. The survey was based on the views of 10,322 participants, and all of the country's wards were represented in the survey.
Conduct
Presidential election
Voting began at 7 am on 29 March and continued for 12 hours, with polling stations closing at 7 pm, although voters who were still in line at that point were allowed to continue voting. Turnout was reported to be somewhat low, and according to police the voting was for the most part calm and peaceful, although the home of a ZANU–PF parliamentary candidate in Bulawayo was bombed.
Mugabe, voting in Harare, said: "We are not in the habit of cheating. We don't rig elections." According to Mugabe, his conscience would not let him sleep at night if he tried to rig the election. Tsvangirai also voted in Harare, saying that he was certain of victory "in spite of the regime's attempt to subvert the will of the people"; he also claimed that the election could not be considered free and fair even if the MDC won. For his part, Makoni predicted that he would win with a score even higher than the 72% he had previously predicted.
The MDC said that ballot papers ran out at a polling station in Mt Dzuma constituency and in Wards 29 and 30 of Makoni South constituency (both constituencies in Manicaland). It also claimed that the indelible ink used for voting could be removed with detergent. Biti said that there was "absolutely no doubt we have won this election".
Some Zimbabweans living in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa held protests and mock voting in response to their exclusion from the election.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) on 28 March admitted that the voters' roll to be used in the elections was "in shambles" after the opposition had unearthed 8,000 voters who according to the roll, were "normally resident" in a block that has no buildings and a shack that had 75 registered voters. This was in Hatcliffe alone.
The ZEC allegedly contravened the Electoral Act by failing to make available to the MDC a hard copy of the roll.
Vote counting
In its preliminary report on 30 March, the SADC observer mission gave the election a positive assessment, although it noted some concerns. Jose Marcos Barrica, the head of the mission, described the election as "a peaceful and credible expression of the will of the people of Zimbabwe." He said that it was free of violence and intimidation. Two members of the mission dissented from the group's report, however.