‘Too many parties and still counting’: in defense of multiparty democracy in Zimbabwe

ABSTRACT

Since the onset of multi-party democracy, which saw elections becoming the ‘only game in town’, political parties are viewed as lodestars of democracy. However, there are times when the political scene becomes ‘crowded’ with ‘too many parties’. This trend has been pervasive in some African countries, including Zimbabwe. How do we account for this phenomenon, and what does this say about party system institutionalisation, affective polarisation – let alone the maturation and deepening of electoral democracy? While the scholarly literature has examined party utility in entrenching multi-party democracy, particularly during the onset of the Third Wave era of democratisation, less well known is the efficacy or lack thereof of having numerous political parties in entrenching democracy. In response to this paucity of empirical research, this article focuses its analytic gaze on the Zimbabwean case study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The CCC led by Nelson Chamisa emerged as a breakaway of the MDC-T in 2020–21 following an unresolved leadership succession, post the demise of the party founder – Morgan Tsvangirai in February 2018.

2 POLAD is a grouping of political parties that fielded presidential candidates in the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe that purport to negotiate with ZANU-PF (Mnangagwa’s administration) in the spirit of nation-building and development post the 2018 polls.