Imagine this: you’re planning a big event, a grand wedding, perhaps. The date is set, the venue booked, the guests invited, and then—boom! Someone tells you, “We might have to move the date.” The uncertainty? It’s maddening, right?
Now, imagine that on a national scale, where the event in question is not a wedding but an election that determines the future of the country. Welcome to Zimbabwe’s electoral dilemma—a saga that cries out for a simple solution: a fixed election date.
Zimbabwe, since 2008, has followed the practice of harmonized elections, where presidential, parliamentary, and local government elections are held simultaneously.
On paper, this sounds efficient—get all the democratic duties done in one go. But here’s the catch: the date for these elections isn’t fixed. It’s like waiting for that wedding invite with the venue “TBA,” leading to all kinds of chaos and guesswork.
Why does this matter? Well, when election dates are fluid, so are the plans of everyone involved—from political parties to voters, and even businesses. The incumbent government holds the cards, deciding when to shuffle the electoral deck. This not only gives them an unfair advantage but also throws the whole country into a state of limbo. Uncertainty hangs like a cloud, affecting everything from business investments to voter turnout.
A report by the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) notes that the unpredictability of election dates creates planning nightmares. For one, it makes it hard to allocate resources efficiently. Electoral bodies scramble to organize everything from voter education to polling stations, often at the last minute. The result? A process that’s less smooth than it could be, sometimes marred by administrative hiccups that could easily be avoided.
Moreover, this uncertainty can lead to voter apathy. People are more likely to participate in elections when they know exactly when they’re happening, not when they have to play the “guess the date” game. According to ZESN, voter turnout tends to be higher in countries with fixed election dates, where citizens can prepare and participate in the electoral process without the stress of sudden announcements.\
Let’s take a leaf out of the books of some of the world’s most stable democracies. Sweden, for example, holds its parliamentary, county, and municipal elections on a fixed date every four years, on the second Sunday in September. This system has been in place for decades, contributing to Sweden’s reputation as a bastion of democratic stability.
The United States, often hailed as a model of democracy, has had a fixed federal election date since 1845. Every four years, on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, Americans head to the polls. Liberia, Zambia, and even our neighbor Botswana have adopted similar practices, showing that a fixed date isn’t just a Western whim—it’s a proven method for enhancing electoral credibility.
So, why should Zimbabwe adopt a fixed election date? For starters, it would level the playing field, reducing the incumbent’s advantage. It would also allow for better planning, not just by the electoral bodies but by political parties, civil society, and voters. Businesses, too, would appreciate the predictability, knowing when to brace for the typical election year economic slowdown and when to ramp up operations.
A fixed date could also help in reducing election-related violence, a perennial problem in Zimbabwe. History has shown that violence tends to spike around election time, fueled by the uncertainty and tension that an unfixed date exacerbates. With a fixed date, all parties would know the timeline well in advance, allowing for better-prepared security measures and more effective voter education campaigns that emphasize peace and tolerance.
It’s time to ditch the “Election Lotto” and embrace a system that lets us plan, budget, and avoid last-minute panic.
So, here’s to hoping that in the near future, Zimbabweans will know exactly when they’ll head to the polls—no surprises, no last-minute scrambles, just a well-organized, predictable exercise in democracy. Because, as any event planner will tell you, setting the date is the first step towards a successful event. And in this case, the event is the future of the nation.
