Representing the will of the people?

The book focuses mainly on Zimbabwe’s 2008 elections. It gives a broad dimension of Zimbabwe’s elections by facilitating the reader with a better understanding of the context within which the election was conducted. Each chapter covers a different aspect of the election process, and each adopts a descriptive, analytical approach rather than a theoretical one. This disposition itself benefits a wider audience.

CONTENTS

The book consists of nine chapters. The first chapter describes the social, political and economic contexts, which define the electoral playing field. The declining economy, a collapse of the democratic process, the failure of the rule of law, land seizures, inflation, the state of the economy and the social context are areas that the author brings into focus.

Chapter two focuses on the shift in political support and public mood during the pre-election. The author also brings into the discussion the irregularities in the March 2008 election. In the third chapter the author examines the media environment in which the election took place. The fourth chapter looks at the political party and presidential contestants and the pre-poll arena. Chapter five describes and analyses the military character and security conditions in which the president election took place. The sixth chapter exposes the wide divergence between what the law says and what happened in practice in respect of the conduct of the elections. In chapter seven, the author looks at one of the key electoral institutions, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and the Electoral Court. The author reviews the complex legal issues surrounding the run-off. The role of civil society in the election is covered in chapter eight. In the final chapter the author discusses the evolution of worsening relations with the international community.

ASSESSMENT

The book starts out by describing the highly questionable nature of the last election, which was held in March 2008, and the subsequent presidential election that was held in the same year in June. The book’s rich material covers the pre-electoral period up to the re-election of Robert Mugabe. The Zimbabwean election architecture was scrutinised by a wide panel of authors from different professional backgrounds, from journalists and researchers to lawyers.

There is no doubt that this is a detailed and interesting book, reflecting on many vital issues related to the election process in Zimbabwe in 2008. The book consists of rich empirical data on the attitudes of Zimbabweans on a wide range of aspects. The persuasion to establish the truth of assertions giving empirical data, both qualitative and quantitative, and evidence-based research has strengthened the book’s contents. The analysis is measured and balanced well, and is revealing. There are critical thoughts. In the introduction, the editor E.V. Masunungure writes:

‘The fallacy is committed when one assumes that elections are sufficient measure of democracy and ignores other essential attributes. The bottom line though is that elections are a required condition for democracy.’ (p. 2)

This book is an instance of where authors highlight critical gaps, and question whether the elections did represent the will of the people of Zimbabwe. The authors look at how some major issues undermined the democratic process of the entire election architecture from the pre-electoral period to the presidential election.

The book describes the ad hoc and restrictive media climate in the country as a whole and during the pre-election time in particular. The author writes:

‘The conditions in Zimbabwe’s media landscape made a mockery of the country’s own regulations and of the regional and international covenants Zimbabwe has signed … There could not have been free and fair national elections of any sort in March 2008, whatever the verdict of the few “friendly” observer missions who were allowed to attend and who judged it a generally free and fair exercise.’ (p. 60)

Each chapter illuminates perspectives about the election’s undemocratic nature and lack of reliability, especially in the presidential election, and produce answers through evidence-based research around what really had taken place on the ground. The author writes:

‘The April to June 2008 election interregnum was a militarized moment … In this political–military alliance, the military was the dominant player and this robbed the electoral process of its political character.’

The book is not lacking the holistic past of the previous election and it breezily tracks the political and socio-economic decays of Zimbabwe. The contents are described in such a way it helps the reader realise this, through many sensuous details.

Finally, I would like to recommend this book to anyone wanting to study the election process in any country, and in African countries in particular. In addition, it is a useful book for anyone who is interested in reading about the Zimbabwean election process and about the political environment in depth.

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* Edited by E.V. Masunungure, ‘Defying the Winds of Change: Zimbabwe’s 2008 Election’ is published by Weaver Press (2009, ISBN: 978-1-77922-086-8).
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