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Christopher Farai Charamba Political Writer
Elections are essentially a numbers game, he or she who can rally the most people to head to the voting booth on the day of the polls will win the seat. This is especially so in Zimbabwe’s First Past the Post system for local government and parliamentary elections. Which simply means the candidate with the most votes wins the election. For the presidential election, the system is slightly different as one needs 50 percent plus one of the vote. This still means that the candidate must have the most people, more than half, on the day.

As it is all about numbers, politicians and political parties tend to appeal to groups with common interests rather than individuals as this allows them to speak to more people in a smaller amount of time. One has perhaps seen political candidates speak to a group of workers or women or, to use a more recent example from the Zimbabwean political context, the youth, as Zanu-PF’s Presidential Youth Interface rallies have done.

By engaging these groups, politicians and their parties are hoping to use their message to entice that specific block of potential voters — workers, women, youth — to vote and vote specifically for them. The larger the block or group, the more attractive to the politician and or party. It is because of this that in the current Zimbabwean political matrix, the youth have found themselves chief among those being courted by politicians from across the political divide.

The definition of youth, according to the Zimbabwean Constitution, is anyone aged between 15 and 35 inclusive. In the context of elections though, only those 18-years-old and above are of particular focus as they are of legal voting age. Looking at data from the 2012 Census, the youth population — 18-35 years old — was about 3 572 987, which constituted 53.74 percent of the adult voting population.

What this means is that the entire youth vote can win an election for a candidate even at presidential level where one needs 50 percent plus one of the vote. And so the youth find themselves a key constituency for political parties as the 2018 election approaches. It is why Zanu-PF has taken its Presidential Youth Interface rallies to eight of the nation’s 10 provinces. Only Harare and Bulawayo provinces remain, with the latter set for tomorrow.

On the opposition front, the MDC and its tributaries are caught up in coalition negotiations that they have yet to turn their sights on a full campaign. However, one is confident that the youth shall be a key component of their strategy. Newcomer Nkosana Moyo has stated that he will do away with deputy ministers should he be elected and instead put in place junior ministers selected from the youth. This is one of the ways he wishes to swing the youth vote to his side.

Then there are the likes of Advocate Fadzayi Mahere and Vimbainashe Musvaburi, youths themselves who have thrown their hat into the race as independent candidates. They too, one is sure, are looking to garner votes from members of their age constituency. One must question though whether the youth can be relied upon when it comes to elections.

Despite having the numbers to swing an election, traditionally the youth do not actually vote. In the 2013 election, some 1 930 743 eligible voters between the ages of 18 and 30 were not registered to vote. This figure constitutes roughly 54 percent of the total youth vote. Come election day, of those who were registered, not all actually cast a ballot, thus reducing the participation of the youth in the electoral process even further.

As politicians look to engaging the youth in the hope of receiving their support in the 2018 election, they must consider certain ideas they may hold about the youth and their participation in elections. First thing to note is that despite being labelled the youth, this group of people is far from homogenous and therefore their engagement with politics differs across their different divisions, mainly socio-political and economical.

In a paper titled “The Youth Factor in Zimbabwe’s 2013 Harmonised Elections”, Dr Obert Hodzi posits that “the political terrain in Zimbabwe is characterised by youth that are polarised and struggling to articulate a national objective that can shift the country’s political discourse.”

He states that concerns differ among the youth, be they rural, urban, unemployed and those in the Diaspora. To illustrate his point, he argues that “while the majority of urban youth were concerned with service delivery, access to financial loans and secure employment, the youth in the Diaspora were concerned with the state of the economy and their right to vote. He further contends that “the majority of Zimbabwean youth act as individuals, loosely affiliated and seeking personal rather than group benefits.”

Political parties must realise that with regards to the youth, a one-size-fits-all approach does not work. Their varied concerns need to be addressed individually and in some depth. One of the major issues affecting the youth is that of unemployment. There is a large contingent of young people in universities, polytechnics and technical colleges graduating each year with no prospect of formal employment.

Those looking to woo these potential voters must know that it is not enough to promise the jobs but lay out a roadmap for doing so that can be scrutinised, debated and engaged with by the people it is to affect. Another concern that leads the youth to abstain from the political processes is a lack of representation in political corridors and a lack of input into policy formulation and decisions.

As Dr Hodzi put it, “none of the parties seems interested in having young people as active participants although they are happy to have their backing as voters, vigilantes and campaigners — an attitude that is bound to limit the enthusiasm of young people for political participation.” Political parties should consider the involvement of the youth particularly when it comes to representation if they wish to secure the youth vote. Having more young people as candidates for elections will entice younger voters to their party.

A youth wing alone is inadequate when it comes to having a say in the affairs of the state, particularly because influential posts in such groupings are awarded through patronage and not merit. While these may be some of the changes political organisations must implement to entice youth voters, for the youth if they so wish to have a greater say in the affairs of the state, it should be their responsibility to get involved.

They should realise that seats are not parcelled out but won and the onus is on them to organise themselves and contest for seats, be it in primary elections for political parties or national ones. A hindrance to this is of course a lack of resources, particularly to compete with the older generation. Overcoming this complication, one of many, calls for innovative thinking and collaborative efforts among the youth population.

Failure to be involved will likely mean that specific youth concerns are not addressed within policy frameworks as the youth are often a block that is talked at rather than consulted.