This research paper presents and analyses the dynamics of pre- and post-electoral violence in Zimbabwe, as suggested by twenty provincial chairpersons from both the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). The purpose of carrying out this research is to inform scholars and policy on the dynamics of pre- and post-electoral violence in Zimbabwe. This research was carried out using in-depth interviews. The period under scrutiny by this research is from April 1980, when Zimbabwe gained independence from British colonial rule, up to the removal of Robert Mugabe by the military in November 2017. Findings that emerge from the study as dynamics of pre and post-electoral violence are militarisation, sanctions imposed by the European Union (EU), ethnicity, the politics of the belly, succession uncertainty, and factionalism in ZANU-PF, among other things. This paper concludes that Zimbabwe’s electoral landscape is pervaded by several pre- and post-electoral violence dynamics that have to be mitigated if elections are going to be sustainable, peaceful, free, and fair.

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