The 270 members of the National Assembly consist of 210 members elected in single-member constituencies and 60 women elected by proportional representation in ten six-seat constituencies based on the country’s provinces. Voters cast a single vote, which is counted for both forms of election.
The 80 members of the Senate include 60 members elected from ten six-member constituencies (also based on the provinces) by proportional representation using party lists; the lists must have a woman at the top and alternate between men and women.
The other 20 seats include two reserved for people with disabilities and 18 for traditional chiefs.
By law, the presidential election results must be announced within five days after voting ends
Zimbabweans go to polls this August with the hope of electing leaders who can turn things around, currently, Zimbabwe has one of the highest inflation levels and unemployment rates in the world.
So far two candidates have shown interest in contesting for the presidency that is the incumbent Emmerson Mnangagwa, from governing ZANU PF, and self-turned-opposition figure Nelson Chamisa, from the Citizen’s Coalition for Change (CCC)
The number is not expected to raise up after the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission raised the nomination fee to $20,000 (£16,000) from $1,000 (£800), thus many will be left out unlike in the 2018 general elections where over 23 candidates contested for presidency.
President Mr Mnangagwa, 80 has been in office since 2018 when Long time leader Robert Mugabe was forcefully made to step down in a swift military coup.
Who has better odds to win the elections
The ruling party ZANU PF has majority support from upcountry areas like many other political parties in office in Africa Zanu-PF has the advantage of incumbency, state power, and access to state resources
However, with high levels of the economic crisis in the country, the middle class, and the youth thinking it’s time for a change in leadership, the government has refused Zimbabweans in the diaspora to vote, a trick many views as an advantage to the incumbent government.
Civil society groups and the opposition political parties highly doubt that polls will be free or fair. They cite what they say has been a systemic crackdown on government critics and anyone opposing the government. The arrests and convictions of opposition figures and government critics have intensified over the last two years.
The electoral reforms that the opposition has demanded for years – to level the playing field, provide access to public media and remove ex-military personnel from the electoral body – have not happened.
Citizen’s Coalition for Change (CCC) leader Mr Chamisa says more than 60 of the party’s meetings were banned, or disrupted by police during by-elections last year, prompting fears it will happen again. As former Zimbabwean politician Jonathan Moyo put it, Zanu-PF will not “reform itself out of power”.
Kamukama Rukundo Clinton is a Ugandan freelance journalist, book author, and columnist for 1cananews who can be contacted via WhatsApp at +25670439540 and rukundopeter33@gmail.com
