NAKED TRUTH

...UNPACKING THE 2018 ELECTIONS The nation is at a standstill, as Zimbabweans anxiously await the Concourt ruling on the challenge mounted by Nelson Chamisa's MDC alliance who are challenging the presidential election results announced by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission(ZEC). One would say that the country has been arrested because of these developments but then again, that is the price we pay for democracy. Unless and until the Concourt decides otherwise, the results announced by the Justice Priscilla Chigumba led commission are that Zanu PF won the parliamentary and presidential elections clearing the way for Emmerson Mnangagwa to form the next government.   There is, however, something very bizarre about the outcome of the just ended 2018 elections, and the behaviour of the Zimbabwean politicians and the electorate itself in those elections. There was something disturbingly dysfunctional about our fledgeling democracy that injects a sense of cynicism. One wonders

The elections in Zimbabwe have come and gone and just like in any contest, there had to be a winner and a loser. In this instance,  Zanu PF emerged victorious after capturing 145 out of the 210 parliamentary seats with the closest rival, the MDC Alliance capturing 63 seats. The other three seats were won by the National Patriotic Front, and two by independents. In the Presidential elections, Emmerson Mnangagwa won with 2 460 463 votes, (50.8%) to Nelson Chamisa’s 2 147 436 votes (44.3 %).  Touted as the most peaceful poll in  post-independent Zimbabwe, the elections and have since been endorsed by SADC, COMESA, AU Observer Missions, the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) among other Observer groups. Although in its interim report released on 1 August 2018, the EU observer mission was rather critical of the playing field not being level in terms of fair access to state broadcasting for all parties, they too stated that “The campaign was largely peaceful, with freedoms of mo