Zim 2023 Elections Forecast: What Watchdogs Say, Political Violence, Factionalism, Regional Trends

2 years agoTue, 01 Nov 2022 07:23:49 GMT

Zim 2023 Elections Forecast: What Watchdogs Say, Political Violence, Factionalism, Regional Trends

Zimbabwe is set to hold harmonised elections in 2023 and stakeholders are giving their opinion on the outcome based on the current atmosphere in the political arena. Pindula News presents some of the salient developments published earlier, in case you missed them. See below:

Watchdogs’ forecast:

(The Election Resource Centre (ERC)) – believes the 2023 elections will be disputed. (https://news.pindula.co.zw/2022/10/25/2023-harmonised-election-watchdog-warns-of-another-disputed-election/)

Religion Effect:

Shadowy Grouping VaPostori for ED says the opposition will never rule Zimbabwe. The church is a huge vote bank. (https://news.pindula.co.zw/2022/10/25/2023-elections-forecast-vapostori-for-ed-declare-opposition-will-never-rule-zimbabwe/)

Political Violence:

CCC Says It’s Not Surprised By Loss In By-elections – Attributes loss to pre-election violence. (https://news.pindula.co.zw/2022/10/25/ccc-says-its-not-surprised-by-loss-in-by-elections/)

Political Party Structures:

ZANU PF Held the 7th National People’s Congress from 26 – 29 October. New Central Committee and Politburo Members were appointed. (https://news.pindula.co.zw/2022/10/29/president-mnangagwa-appoints-new-central-committee-and-politburo-members/) No significant changes – President Mnangagwa retained some senior officials. (https://news.pindula.co.zw/2022/10/30/update-president-mnangagwa-reappoints-chiwenga-and-mohadi/)

Factionalism in ZANU PF & 2023 Elections:

There are reports of factionalism in ZANU PF. Nevertheless, Mnangagwa was endorsed to lead ZANU PF for another 5-year term. (https://news.pindula.co.zw/2022/10/28/zanu-pf-gives-mnangagwa-another-five-years-as-leader/) Chiwenga Endorsed Mnangagwa. (https://news.pindula.co.zw/2022/10/29/vp-chiwenga-says-president-mnangagwa-deserves-another-opportunity-to-lead-us/). Mnangagwa is said to have appointed his close allies. This is allegedly premised on cushioning him from ouster. Therefore, ED is the ZANU PF candidate likely to face Nelson Chamisa in 2023, a repeat of 2018. Mnangagwa also reappointed Chiwenga and Mohadi as VPs, (https://news.pindula.co.zw/2022/10/30/update-president-mnangagwa-reappoints-chiwenga-and-mohadi/), they are next in line in case ED is incapacitated.

The wave of Change in the SADC region:

Chamisa attends the inauguration of new Lesotho Prime Minister Sam Matekane (https://news.pindula.co.zw/2022/10/28/chamisa-attends-new-lesotho-prime-ministers-inauguration/). Matekane (64) launched the Revolution for Prosperity (RFP) on 22 March 2022 and defeated the All Basotho Convention (ABC) in elections held on 07 October 2022. Zambia, Lesotho, Malawi, and Kenya have in recent years changed leaders. The trend has given the opposition some hope it will dislodge ZANU PF from power. The ruling party has been in power since Independence (1980).