The Zimbabwe government consists of an elected

head of state A head of state (or chief of state) is the public persona who officially embodies a state Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representatitve of its international persona." in its unity and l ...

, the president, and a legislature. The presidential term lasts for 5 years, and is elected by majority, with a second round if no candidate receives a majority in the first round. The Parliament is bicameral, consisting of the

House of Assembly House of Assembly is a name given to the legislature or lower house of a bicameral parliament. In some countries this may be at a subnational level. Historically, in British Crown colonies as the colony gained more internal responsible gove ...

and Senate. Following the 2013 constitution, the House of Assembly has 270 members. 210 are elected for five-year terms by

single-member A single-member district is an electoral district represented by a single officeholder. It contrasts with a multi-member district, which is represented by multiple officeholders. Single-member districts are also sometimes called single-winner vo ...

constituencies An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...

. Furthermore, the constitution specifies that for the two first parliaments, there are 60 additional seats reserved for women, 6 seats per

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

, which are filled based on the votes for in the single-member constituencies, using

party-list proportional representation Party-list proportional representation (list-PR) is a subset of proportional representation electoral systems in which multiple candidates are elected (e.g., elections to parliament) through their position on an electoral list. They can also be us ...

, distributed using the

largest remainder method The largest remainder method (also known as Hare–Niemeyer method, Hamilton method or as Vinton's method) is one way of allocating seats proportionally for representative assemblies with party list voting systems. It contrasts with variou ...

and the hare quota. The Senate has 80 members: 60 are elected for five-year terms in 6-member constituencies representing one of the 10 provinces, elected based on the votes in the lower house election, using

, distributed using the hare quota. Additionally the senate consists of 2 seats for each non-metropolitan district of Zimbabwe elected by each provincial assembly of chiefs using

SNTV SNTV may refer to: *Single non-transferable vote, an electoral system in multi-member constituency elections *Sistema Nacional de Televisión (Nicaragua), the Nicaraguan state broadcaster from 1990–1997 *Sistema Nacional de Televisión (Paraguay) ...

, 1 seat each for the president and deputy president of the National Council of Chiefs and 1 male and 1 female seat for people with disabilities elected on separate ballots using

FPTP In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

by an electoral college designated by the National Disability Board. Zimbabwe is a

one party dominant state A dominant-party system, or one-party dominant system, is a political occurrence in which a single political party continuously dominates election results over running opposition groups or parties. Any ruling party staying in power for more th ...

; the dominant party being the

Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

Opposition Opposition may refer to: Arts and media * ''Opposition'' (Altars EP), 2011 EP by Christian metalcore band Altars * The Opposition (band), a London post-punk band * '' The Opposition with Jordan Klepper'', a late-night television series on Com ...

parties A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature ...

are permitted, including the

MDC Alliance The Movement for Democratic Change Alliance was an electoral coalition of seven political parties formed to contest Zimbabwe's 2018 general election. After the 2018 election, a dispute arose over the use of the name MDC Alliance leading the MDC ...

led by

Nelson Chamisa Nelson Chamisa (born 2 February 1978) is a Zimbabwean politician and the current President of the Citizens Coalition For Change. He served as Member of the House of Assembly of Zimbabwe for Kuwadzana East, Harare. Chamisa was the MDC Allianc ...

and the MDC–T led by

Thokozani Khuphe Thokozani Khupe (born 18 November 1963) is a Zimbabwean politician, trade unionist and the President of the MDC-T breakaway faction of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). She was Deputy Prime Minister 2009–13. Following the death of par ...

, both formations of the original

Movement for Democratic Change Movement for Democratic Change or MDC may refer to: * Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai (MDC–T), the former main opposition party in Zimbabwe ** Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai Congress 2006, the second MDC–T congres ...

created in 1999. Recent elections (March 2008) have witnessed former ruling party finance minister

Simba Makoni Simba is a fictional character and the protagonist of Disney's ''The Lion King'' franchise. Introduced in the 1994 film ''The Lion King'', Walt Disney Animation's 32nd animated feature, the character subsequently appears in '' The Lion King II ...

standing as an independent presidential candidate.

Latest elections

President

House of Assembly

Senate

Referendums

On 12–13 February 2000, there was a constitutional referendum for increasing the powers of the president. These powers were to permit the government to confiscate White-owned land without compensation for the purpose of redistribution to Black farmers, and to give government officials immunity from prosecution. * "Yes" Votes 45.32% * "No" Votes 54.68%

References

External links

"Zimbabwe Election: Stolen Ballots"
GuardianFilms
ElectionworldAdam Carr's Election Archive
{{Use dmy dates, date=November 2017