Editing Politics of Zimbabwe (section)

==Political developments since the Lancaster House Agreement==

The Zimbabwean Constitution, initially from the [[Lancaster House Agreement]] a few months before the [[Zimbabwean parliamentary election, 1980|1980 elections]], chaired by [[Peter Carington, 6th Baron Carrington|Lord Carrington]], institutionalises majority rule and protection of minority rights. Since independence, the Constitution has been amended by the government to provide for:

*The abolition of seats reserved for [[Whites in Zimbabwe|whites]] in the country's parliament in 1987;<ref name="LATimes1987">[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-06-24-mn-6348-story.html Zimbabwe Moves to Limit Whites' Role : Legislation Prepared to End a Guarantee of Parliament Seats], ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', June 24, 1987.</ref>
*The abolition of the office of [[Prime Minister of Zimbabwe|prime minister]] in 1987 and the creation of an executive presidency.<ref name="LATimes1987" /> (The office was restored in 2009, and abolished again in 2013.)
*The abolition of the [[Senate of Zimbabwe|Senate]] in 1990 (reintroduced in 2005), and the creation of appointed seats in the House of Assembly.<ref name="LATimes1987"/>

The elected government controls senior appointments in the public service, including the [[Military of Zimbabwe|military]] and [[Zimbabwe Republic Police|police]], and ensures that appointments at lower levels are made on an equitable basis by the independent [[Civil service commission|Public Service Commission]].

[[Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front|ZANU-PF]] leader [[Robert Mugabe]], elected prime minister in 1980, revised the constitution in 1987 to make himself president. President Mugabe's affiliated party  won every election from independence on April 18, 1980, until it lost the parliamentary elections in [[Zimbabwean presidential election, 2008|March 2008]] to the [[Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai|Movement for Democratic Change]]. In some quarters corruption and rigging elections have been alleged. In particular the elections of 1990 were nationally and internationally condemned as being rigged, with the second-placed party, [[Edgar Tekere]]'s Zimbabwe Unity Movement, winning only 20% of the vote. Presidential elections were held in [[Zimbabwean presidential election, 2002|2002]] amid allegations of vote-rigging, intimidation, and [[Electoral fraud|fraud]], and again in March 2008.

Ethnic rivalry between the [[Shona people|Shona]] and [[Ndebele people (Zimbabwe)|Ndebele]] has played a large part in Zimbabwe's politics, a consequence of the country's borders defined by its British colonial rulers. This continued after independence in 1980, during the [[Gukurahundi]] ethnic cleansing liberation wars in [[Matabeleland]] in the 1980s. This led to the political merger of [[Joshua Nkomo]]'s [[Zimbabwe African People's Union|Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU)]] with the ruling [[Zimbabwe African National Union|Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU)]] to form ZANU-PF and the appointment of Nkomo as [[Vice President of Zimbabwe|vice president]].

During 2005, with Mugabe's future in question, factionalism within the [[Shona people|Shona]] has increased.<ref>[http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/ar/ar_ze_018_1_eng.txt] [http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20050414041622/http%3A//www%2Eiwpr%2Enet/index%2Epl?archive/ar/ar_ze_018_1_eng%2Etxt Archived copy] at the [[Library of Congress]] (April 14, 2005).</ref> In October 2005 it was alleged that members of the ruling ZANU-PF and the opposition MDC had held secret meetings in London and Washington to discuss plans for a new Zimbabwe after Robert Mugabe.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-zimbabwe/end_mugabe_2926.jsp |title=The end of Mugabe? |publisher=openDemocracy |date=2005-10-13 |access-date=2011-12-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120115070509/http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-zimbabwe/end_mugabe_2926.jsp |archive-date=2012-01-15 |url-status=dead }}</ref> On February 6, 2007, Mugabe orchestrated a Cabinet reshuffle, ousting ministers including 5-year veteran Minister of Finance [[Herbert Murerwa]].