ZIMBABWE

ELECTIONS IN 2005

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Chamber:
  Senate
 
Dates of election / renewal (from/to):
  26 November 2005
 
 
Purpose of elections:
  Elections were called for all the 50 directly elected seats in the reintroduced Senate.
 
Background and outcome of elections:
  On 26 November 2005, the first elections for the re-established Senate were held. The 66-seat Senate was reintroduced in August 2005, after a series of constitutional amendments was passed by the then unicameral Parliament.

Only 31 of the 50 directly elected seats were, in fact, contested at the election. The remaining 19 seats went to the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), since no opposition candidates were fielded in these constituencies before the close of nominations on 25 October 2005.

The main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), was deeply divided over its participation in the senatorial poll. While the pro-election faction, led by its secretary general, Mr. Welshman Ncube, decided on 12 October to participate in the elections, MDC leader, Mr. Morgan Tsvangirai. called for a boycott. He argued that the creation of the Senate was a waste of money and would simply hand out jobs to President Mugabe's political allies. He insisted that their participation would lend credibility to a ballot which he assumed to be flawed. MDC spokesman, Mr. Themba Nyathi, argued that the party would be better off participating in the elections in order to present its policies. In the end, the pro-election faction fielded 26 candidates.

Voting took place peacefully, although turnout was the lowest since Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980. Only 15 per cent of the 5.6 million registered voters turned out. Local media analyzed the causes of the high absenteeism as voter apathy and the MDC leader's call for a boycott.

The final results gave the ruling ZANU-PF 43 seats, including the 19 uncontested seats. The MDC obtained seven seats. Together with the 16 appointed seats, the ZANU-PF controls 59 of the 66 seats.

On 30 November 2005, the new Senate held its first session and elected Ms. Edna Madzongwe, former deputy speaker of the House of Assembly, as the new Speaker of the Senate.
 
STATISTICS
 
Round no 1 (26 November 2005): Election results
Number of registered electors 3'239'574
Voters 631'347 (19.49%)
Blank or invalid ballot papers 21'052
Valid votes 610'295
 
 
Round no 1: Distribution of votes
 
Political Group Candidates Votes %  
ZANU-PF 449'860 73.71  
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) 123'628 20.26  
 
Round no 1: Distribution of seats
 
Political Group Total
ZANU-PF 43
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) 7
 
Comments:
The statistics above refer to 50 members directly elected.

Among 21 women, 20 were directly elected and one woman was appointed.

Source:
Public Information Office, Zimbabwean Parliament (02.12.2005)
http://www.zesn.org.zw/
 
Distribution of seats according to sex:
Men: 45
Women: 21
Percent of women: 31.82
 
Distribution of seats according to age:
 
Distribution of seats according to profession:


 

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