Multiparty elections case of Zimbabwe
By: V-Dem Staff
Oct 16, 2015
However, the holding of elections does not necessarily mean that they are free and fair. Thus, despite being a widespread phenomenon, the quality of elections and the related levels of democracy vary widely, as shown in graph pictured below.
Since independence in 1980, Zimbabwe has been dominated by the ZANU (later, ZANU-PF) political party led by Robert Mugabe. Several variables from the V-Dem dataset have been selected to demonstrate that despite multiparty elections featuring independent opposition parties, manipulation of these elections mean that Zimbabwe scores low on the elections index. Similarly, the liberal democracy index, which takes into account the protection of civil liberties and rule of law, has also been fairly low throughout this period. Lastly, the static low score for the executive turnover variable captures the continuous uninterrupted rule of Mugabe as president. The final spike following elections in 2008 was due to an opposition politician being named Prime Minister while Mugabe remained President.
