1 zimbabwe election support network [zesn] - Nehanda Radio

management capacity.
Also imperative is the need to agree on who will head the proposed power-sharing
arrangement? Who will wield executive/ceremonial powers? How are ministerial
responsibilities to be shared? How is the issue of violence to be addressed? Is the
arrangement a transition to elections or an end in itself? These questions are particularly
tricky given the ideological and personality differences and mistrust between the two main
political actors. Against this background ZESN and all peace loving citizens fervently hope
that the traditional obstacles that have been standing in the way of the SADC-brokered talks
since 2004 will be kept at bay.
When all is said and done, the 27 Presidential Run Off in Zimbabwe was a sad story of an
election without democracy. This election experience suggests that while the idea of
democracy is intimately linked to elections, in practice the two do not necessarily add up.
Even undemocratic regimes hold periodic elections in order to give some semblance of
democratic legitimacy.
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