A recent survey conducted by Afrobarometer partner Mass Public Opinion Institute (MPOI) has found that Zimbabweans are satisfied with voter registration but doubtful about Zimbabwe Electoral Commission- ZEC.
As the country approaches the watershed 2018 election in July, large majorities say they are satisfied with their experiences with biometric voter registration (BVR), but only about half trust the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) and think it performs its duties as a neutral body guided only by law.
According to the survey most of Zimbabweans say they are “fairly” or “very” satisfied with their experiences with biometric voter registration centers, including the conduct of registration officials (95%) and the functioning of registration equipment (91%) (Figure 1).
Fewer than half (46%) of Zimbabweans say they trust the ZEC “somewhat” or “a lot”
A slim majority (53%) of Zimbabweans believe that the ZEC is a neutral board, while
31% think it makes decisions that favour particular people, parties, or interests .
In February President Mnangagwa appointed Justice Priscilla Chigumba as new Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) chairperson replacing Justice Rita Makarau who resigned in December last year. The change in the organisation’s leadership has had little or no effect to change people’s perception.
Afrobarometer is a pan-African, non-partisan research network that conducts public attitude surveys on democracy, governance, economic conditions, and related issues in African countries.
Six rounds of surveys were conducted in up to 37 countries between 1999 and
2015, and a regular Round 7 survey was conducted in Zimbabwe in January-February 2017
(for findings, please visit www.afrobarometer.org).
Afrobarometer conducts face-to-face interviews in the language of the respondent’s choice with nationally representative samples.
For its latest survey, Afrobarometer national partner Mass Public Opinion Institute interviewed 2,399 adult citizens between 28 April and 13 May 2018. A sample of this size yields country level results with a margin of error of +/-2% at a 95% confidence level.