Zimbabwe

How It Started

The initial success of Project Africa made Zimbabwe a breadbasket for the region before the onset of the country’s economic crisis and hyperinflation. As the prospects for strengthening democratic institutions declined over the years, we explored potential governance projects.

Our Work and Methods

• In 2013, the Center was denied accreditation to observe Zimbabwe’s elections, which opponents of President Robert Mugabe claimed were rigged.
• In 2018, we deployed an expert mission to observe the country’s harmonized elections, but the government limited the observers’ work.
• In 2023, the Center was invited to observe the August elections but accreditation for 30 short-term observers was denied after they had arrived in the country.

Impacts

Though denied access to fully observe the 2023 elections, the Center documented critical shortcomings and gaps that undermined the credibility of the process:

• Ballot shortages caused delayed openings at polling locations, sometimes up to 12 hours
• Critical election information—such as the final voter list and the list of polling stations—was not readily available to stakeholders
• Observers reported numerous instances of assisted voting in rural areas, raising concerns that the secrecy of the vote may have been compromised

Overall, the Center concluded that the 2023 electoral process did not adequately respect Zimbabwe’s commitments for democratic and inclusive elections, which prevented the genuine expression of the will of the Zimbabwean people.