Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition disputes 2023 presidential election results

The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition has disputed the results of the 2023 presidential election, in which Emmerson Mnangagwa was declared the winner.

The coalition, a network of civil society organisations, said that the election was “marred with a lot of irregularities and the outcome was predetermined.”

The coalition’s chairperson Peter Mutasa said that the election suffered a series of manipulations intended to demean the sovereignty of Zimbabwe and have a pre-determined outcome.

“This election ranks as Zimbabwe’s worst election since 2000,” Mutasa said. “This election was neither free nor fair as well as not credible and transparent. It is a sham and needs urgent curing.”

Mutasa cited a number of irregularities, including the skewed boundary delimitation to favour the incumbent, the composition of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) itself, and the manipulation and illegal withholding of the voters’ roll.

He said that the installation of Mnangagwa as president based on the outcome of this election would be illegitimate.

“This illegitimate instalment of an unelected President creates local tension and often breeds commotion the illegitimate Government deploys force to govern,” Mutasa said. “The precedence this illegitimacy and sham election sets is a risk to the SADC and the AU as they move to deter unconstitutional means of installing governments on the continent.”

Mutasa said that the humanitarian state of Zimbabweans, both local and abroad, would likely deteriorate, especially for women and children as outward migration would consequentially rise.

He said that the illegitimate election risks breeding conditions for another coup like that of November 2017 through which the then-President Mugabe was deposed.

“Zimbabwe needs help to manage peaceful election-based transitions,” Mutasa said. “It has not had that transition since independence in 1980.”