Zimbabwe: Economic and Political Overview
Zimbabwe has a multi-party system, though a handful of larger parties typically dominate politics. The main political parties in the country include:
The African National Union of Zimbabwe - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF): left, ruling party, nationalist and populist, heir to the liberation movements that fought the apartheid regime of Ian Smith, led by Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa.
Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai (MDC–T): centre-left, social democracy, named after former opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai; significantly weakened in recent years and eclipsed by the CCC.Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC): centre-left, social democracy, founded in 2022 by Nelson Chamisa after a split from the MDC Alliance; following Chamisa’s resignation in January 2024 amid claims of infiltration by the ruling party, the CCC has experienced internal leadership disputes, with figures such as Lynette Karenyi-Kore and Jameson Timba emerging.
The world rankings, published annually, measures violations of press freedom worldwide. It reflects the degree of freedom enjoyed by journalists, the media and digital citizens of each country and the means used by states to respect and uphold this freedom. Finally, a note and a position are assigned to each country. To compile this index, Reporters Without Borders (RWB) prepared a questionnaire incorporating the main criteria (44 in total) to assess the situation of press freedom in a given country. This questionnaire was sent to partner organisations,150 RWB correspondents, journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists. It includes every kind of direct attacks against journalists and digital citizens (murders, imprisonment, assault, threats, etc.) or against the media (censorship, confiscation, searches and harassment etc.).
The Indicator of Political Freedom provides an annual evaluation of the state of freedom in a country as experienced by individuals. The survey measures freedom according to two broad categories: political rights and civil liberties. The ratings process is based on a checklist of 10 political rights questions (on Electoral Process, Political Pluralism and Participation, Functioning of Government) and 15 civil liberties questions (on Freedom of Expression, Belief, Associational and Organizational Rights, Rule of Law, Personal Autonomy and Individual Rights). Scores are awarded to each of these questions on a scale of 0 to 4, where a score of 0 represents the smallest degree and 4 the greatest degree of rights or liberties present. The total score awarded to the political rights and civil liberties checklist determines the political rights and civil liberties rating. Each rating of 1 through 7, with 1 representing the highest and 7 the lowest level of freedom, corresponds to a range of total scores.
Political freedom in the world (interactive map)
Source: Freedom in the World Report, Freedom House
Any Comment About This Content? Report It to Us.
© eexpand, All Rights Reserved.
Latest Update: May 2025