Journal of Power, Politics & Governance

2013 Zimbabwe’s Harmonised Elections. A farce or a Reality?
Simbarashe Moyo

Abstract
TheZimbabwean election results have been met with mixed reactions ranging from ululation and jubilation for the victors ZANU PF to outright disbelief and disgust to the leadership and supporters of MDC T who had invested much time and energy in an attempt to secure a radical change to the status quo. This situation has brought about a stalemate between the biggest political rivals in Zimbabwe, were the MDC T alleges that its victory in the harmonised election was stolen by ZANU PF using an orchestra of rigging machines ranging from electoral fraud to strategic positioning of the officials running the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. On the other hand some sections of the civic society, political commentators blame the MDC T for its defeat to serious levels of political naivety, political immaturity, and loss of political providence among other issues which will be discussed in this paper. It is however the purpose of this paper to analyse whether the 2013 harmonised elections were a reality or farce despite these divergent views from various sections of the society.

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