Why Mugabe Won
The 2013 Elections in Zimbabwe and their Aftermath

This book examines the key events, personalities and wider socio-political context that led to Mugabe's victory in the 2013 Zimbabwean elections.

Stephen Chan (Author), Julia Gallagher (Author)

9781107539808, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 12 November 2020

203 pages
23 x 15 x 1.5 cm, 0.31 kg

'This book is an important contribution to our evolving understanding of Zimbabwe's 'guided' democracy and the entrenched challenges of reform and recovery. The 2013 polls secured Zanu-PF victory, but not legitimacy. The detail examined in this book highlights the importance of employing a wider angle lens to understand the political economy of command and control during elections, especially where constraining conditions of coercive nationalism have become entrenched.' Piers Pigou, Southern Africa Senior Consultant, International Crisis Group

The 2013 general elections in Zimbabwe were widely expected to mark a shift in the nation's political system, and a greater role for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. However, the results, surprisingly, were overwhelmingly in favour of long-time President Robert Mugabe, who swept the presidential, parliamentary and senatorial polls under relatively credible and peaceful conditions. In this book, a valuable and accessible read for both students and scholars working in African politics, and those with a general interest in the politics of the region, Stephen Chan and Julia Gallagher explore the domestic and international context of these landmark elections. Drawing on extensive research among political elites, grassroots activists and ordinary voters, Chan and Gallagher examine the key personalities, dramatic events, and broader social and political context of Mugabe's success, and what this means as Zimbabwe moves towards a future without Mugabe.

1. Introduction: thinking a new Zimbabwe
2. Building towards the 2013 elections
3. The elections of 2013
4. 'We are tired of supporting a loser': the MDC campaign
5. 'Zanu managed to mend relationships': the Zanu-PF campaign
6. Conflicting reports and assessments I: the run-up
7. Conflicting reports and assessments II: the aftermath
8. One year after the elections
9. Succession battles in the new Zimbabwe
Postscript: on reality and rumours.

Subject Areas: Elections & referenda [JPHF], Political structure & processes [JPH], Politics & government [JP]