Categories: Stories

Zimbabwe elections – Could proportional representation be the answer?

In the 2008 parliamentary elections ZANU-PF and the MDC were tied neck to neck. Though it has its pitfalls, most people believe that the current inclusive government is the best government Zimbabwe could ever wish for. No party has an absolute majority to do what it wishes as ZANU-PF has always had since independence. This begs the question whether Zimbabwe should continue with the first-past-post system or proportional representation which was used at independence and is used in neighbouring countries like South Africa. Proponents of proportional representation say the system is more democratic because every vote counts. Here is an argument for proportional representation which we published in 1992. We have 110 other stories in our archives that were not published on the front page.

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Charles Rukuni

The Insider is a political and business bulletin about Zimbabwe, edited by Charles Rukuni. Founded in 1990, it was a printed 12-page subscription only newsletter until 2003 when Zimbabwe's hyper-inflation made it impossible to continue printing.

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