Zimbabwe’s Opposition Leader Quits Party Amid Political Turmoil

Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader, Nelson Chamisa, has quit his party, accusing the ruling party of hijacking the organization and causing the removal of dozens of his members of parliament and councilors. Chamisa, who was President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s main rival in the 2018 and 2023 disputed elections, accused Mnangagwa of decimating the opposition by authoritarian means. He criticized the country’s record of authoritarianism and announced that he no longer has anything to do with the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC).

Chamisa formed the CCC in 2022, breaking from the country’s longtime opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), after the High Court in Harare ruled that he was not the legitimate leader. He contested last year’s elections, which he later described as a “gigantic fraud” with 44% of the vote to Mnangagwa’s 52.6%. His party took control of all major cities and towns and won enough parliamentary seats to deny the ruling ZANU-PF party a two-thirds majority.

Chamisa has struggled to hold his party together since the elections, as a man claiming to be the party’s secretary-general began removing elected officials with support from parliamentary authorities, the government, and the courts. The ruling party has denied that it has a hand in the recalls or that Mnangagwa is angling for a third term once he completes his second and final term in 2028.