Opinion Piece the Alternative Vote for Zimbabwe?: A Rhodesian Retrospective

Only starry-eyed optimists ever hoped that the 2023 election in Zimbabwe would bring about a significant change in how the country is ruled politically. From 2008 onwards, when President Robert Mugabe survived a challenge presented by Morgan Tsvangirai only by orchestrating a brutal crackdown on his rival's supporters in a run-off in the presidential election, Zimbabwean elections have lost any shred of credibility. The electoral playing field is systematically stacked against challengers to the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), as those confronting the ruling party are faced by partisan electoral authorities, a battery of laws inhibiting opposition, restrictions on the media, the deployment of violence against opposition supporters, and so on (Southall 2013, pp. 107-32; Human Rights Watch 2018). In short, electoral outcomes are largely predetermined in ZANU-PF's favour, notwithsta