Electoral Illiteracy and Democratic Citizenship in Zimbabwe

Abstract

This paper argues that electoral processes in Africa with special focus on Zimbabwe are never fair due to rampant electoral illiteracy. In this paper, illiteracy is far beyond the inability to read and write but encompasses a high degree of ignorance from not reading. The theory informing arguments in the paper is democratic citizenship. This is a qualitative research where data has been gathered through interviews and observation. Zimbabwe’s election processes of 2008, 2013 and 2018 had been used as case studies to substantiate the findings of this study. The major findings are that besides electoral illiteracy, factors such as intimidation, fear, manipulation (vote buying), partisan and hero worshipping also compromise the credibility of elections in Zimbabwe. The other finding is that as long as citizens are not familiar with electoral process of their country, the levels of participation of such people will remain low. In the light of these findings, this research recommends effective active citizenship if electoral crisis in Zimbabwe is to be addressed.

Keywords: Democracy, Democratic Citizenship, Electoral Illiteracy