Emasculating the Movement for Democratic Change - Tsvangirai (MDC-T): Public Opinion Polls and Changing Political Attitudes in Zimbabwe
2013; RELX Group (Netherlands); Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
1556-5068
Autores Tópico(s)African studies and sociopolitical issues
ResumoA series of 2012 public opinion polls indicated that Zimbabwe has been entering a period of new politics. The changing relationship between Zimbabweans and the Movement for Democratic Change-Tsvangirai (MDC T) was at the centre of this process. The MDC-T had experienced a decade of often heroic resistance and thwarted electoral victories against the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF). It was widely expected that the MDC-T would continue on an upward trajectory and emerge from a period of joint government with ZANU-PF, ready to assume power. However, the MDC-T suffered weaknesses of leadership, and both de facto subjugation to ZANU-PF in the ‘inclusive government’ and poor ethics where it came to rule in local government. With the use of polling data, the paper configures these attitude changes. The main data set is the series of Freedom House polls of 2009, 2010 and 2012. The paper explores these findings in depth and then compares the top-line 2012 findings with the results of two other 2012 polls. All point in the same direction: short of a major force to resurrect its relation to the voters, the MDC-T was set to suffer an anti-climactic electoral eclipse and ZANU-PF gain a mighty reprieve.
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