By-election voter ‘apathy’: Another perspective
• recent polls serve as reminder that Zimbabwean politics is more complex than what the internet suggests.
Brian Rungano Temba
Despite carrying hype on the internet, followers of local politics were once again reminded that there is more to the country`s political events than debates online.
The voter turnout at the recent by-election polls showed that there is a gulf between the electorate and elite platforms of discourse, which are usually assumed to be representative of all Zimbabweans.
If someone had been online a few weeks before the March 26 polls, due to the imperialistic curation of the Twitters of this world, a certain political party which draws inspiration from banana peels told itself consistent lies.
Repetitive lies that Nelson Chamisa is loved organically in Zimbabwe, that all the people who thronged his rallies are invested in his ‘elusive’ path to State House.
People were not interested in the by-election.
It is common knowledge that abstinence from the voting process favours the status quo.
Why is it among all debates being brought forward, no one is arguing that the electorate is happy with the political order in the country?
What is being called voter apathy, perhaps should be interpreted through a more critical lense.
What if it is the people of Zimbabwe communicating their politics through loud silence? Because voting for ZANU PF has become criminalized in some corner of the toxic internet.
When someone expresses that they are ZANU PF, they are mocked.
So, there are those who are following the groupthink not because of their admiration for the CCC, but because they want to be accepted on the so-called internet streets.
Those people make for good rhetoricians, but on election day they will tweet results from the comfort of their homes.
Political commentary is easy to mete out, phones and bundles are all a person needs, voting for the national leadership takes much more commitment.
There is more genuine civic duty in those who are sympathetic to ZANU PF than those from the opposition ranks.
This is why the political contest, strictly counting was won by ZANU PF, which has to count all voters who abstained and those who went to the ballot to vote for them.
It is a reality which has left those hostile to the ruling party to start with their analyses which try to complicate simple things.
The regular Twitter academics will write essays in convoluted English, even borrowing from Achebe to try and foment confusion.
Some analysts have blamed non-existent grassroot party structures on both ruling and opposition parties in the urban areas.
Advocacy group, the Elections Resource Centre (ERC) attributed the low voter turnout to the turning away of voters due to general apathy and missing names in the voters roll.
“Voter turnout is really low and in areas such as Nkulumane constituency, our observers reported very low turnout,” said Barbra Dube, ERC Director.
The remarks were from an organisation which ran an aggressive voter registration campaign, instead of telling people how the low turnout happened, they want to describe the obvious.
Perhaps we should start discussing the use of the word apathy.
Is it apathy? If the numbers are better than the last by-election?
Why are the numbers being read with expectation of the turnout seen at General Elections? Do we have a shortage of by-elections to use as apt precedent?
By midday of March 26, 2022, Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) reported that 5 530 people had voted in Bulawayo Province, 4 899 in Masvingo, 15 886 in Midlands and 2 442 in Manicaland.
The opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) Spokesperson Fadzai Mahere confirmed the low voter turnout but noted an improvement as compared to previous by-elections.
“We have reports that all polling stations were congested so we had a very decent turnout, in fact our statistics show that this is the highest turnout for a by-election,” said Mahere.
She said the low turnout could be attributed to a number of factors key among them voters being turned away, voter apathy and early closure of the voters roll.
Experts are warning against overplaying the apathy.
Dr George Chingarande, an analyst told a recent Twitter space on the topic that for those who have kept an eye on Zimbabwean politics for long, the numbers should be normal.
“Nothing surprising there. By-elections are notorious for low turnout. A 25 percent turnout is not bad for by-elections.
Most rallies were star rallies that attracted people beyond the constituencies. However, given the high enthusiasm from a rebranded party, low turnout bodes ill for CCC,” said Dr Chingarande
ZANUPF managed to take back all seven national assembly seats it previously held and an additional two to make them nine.
Everyone who knows politics knows that there are numbers which matter, even opposition academic Alex Magaisa did a thread crunching the same figures.
According to critics on the narrative that ZANUPF lost dismally to CCC, these are the numbers that matter:
ZANUPF got 128 399 votes there by winning 9 Constituencies. CCC got 129 799 votes also winning 19 Constituencies.
Hypothetically, if ZANUPF had mobilised more voters they could have won more if they had a small margin of difference.
Besides they still hold the majority in the House of Assembly, they could have decided not to field and nothing would change.
Simply because the ruling party understood that some of the seats, like Epworth, which landed in opposition hands as a mistake, could be recovered if they decide to play a part.
People did not boycott polls, they simply saw no reason in participating in a process which will settle MDC factional fights, when the outcome would not threaten ZANU PF standing.
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