By Todd Moss, Michelle Gavin, Alexander Noyes
Michelle Gavin, formerly President Barack Obama’s senior Africa director at the National Security Council and U.S. ambassador to Botswana, is senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Todd Moss, formerly deputy assistant secretary of state for Africa, is a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development. Alexander Noyes is a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The authors were part of a preelection assessment mission to Zimbabwe.
For Zimbabwe’s long-ruling party, the July 30 election was intended to legitimize President Emmerson Mnangagwa, ushering in a new era of global investment into a perilously fragile economy. In the wake of a deeply flawed contest, whether that effort is successful might rest with the international community. While Mnangagwa and his challenger Nelson Chamisa are currently battling in court over the final results, a debate is underway in Washington over how to respond.
Regardless of the court ruling, the verdict is already in: Mnangagwa is no reformer and no longer deserves any benefit of the doubt. Instead, the preelection environment, the management of the vote, and the post-election violence all show why Washington must maintain pressure for a truly democratic transition.
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