Youth vote will decide elections: analysts The outcome of the forthcoming elections will hinge on the question of who can attract the youth vote, analysts say, as all major political parties try to appeal to young people. The focus of the MDC-T’s economic blueprint is the creation of jobs, while Zanu (PF) is using its indigenisation and empowerment policy as a carrot to attract the youth vote. Political analyst Alexander Rusero said the importance of the youth vote was not only evident in Zimbabwe but across the globe. “Youths constitute the biggest political market not just in Zimbabwe and Africa - their dominance is reflected in global trends”. “Two fifths of the global voting population are young people. In this election they will definitely be the game changer. Sadly however many of them do not seem to be interested in participating in the electoral processes,” he said. “Zanu (PF) is reluctant to push for the participation of the youth in electoral processes and cannot be at the forefront because this would only bring more challenges for the party. It is up to the other political parties to drive the push for the registration of young voters,” Rusero added. David Chidende, the Programmes Officer at Youth Information and Education for Behaviour Change, said it was clear that the youths would be decisive in the elections and should be encouraged to participate in the process. “The youths constitute about 61 percent of the total population in Zimbabwe. Their vote will add value to the process and all they need to do is to register to vote. It is critical that all parties should have in their manifestos something for the youths. Their policies should appeal to the needs of young people,” Chidende said. Wellington Zindove of the Zimbabwe Youth Forum said there were blatant efforts to muzzle the youth vote. “Young people have encountered a lot of frustration in trying to register as voters. They have been asked to produce unnecessary documents. You cannot put aside $25 million to frustrate people who want to participate in the process. They must do away with unnecessary requirements to give young people unimpeded access,” Zindove said. He said parties must concentrate on selling policies that have relevance to the lives of young people. “Right now they are concentrating on issues such as media reform which are too abstract for young people to grasp,” Zindove said. MDC-T national youth spokesman Clifford Hlatswayo said corruption was an issue of great concern. “High level corruption has robbed the country of its resources and of the opportunities they offered to the youth so any party that wants to win must have zero tolerance for corruption,” he said, adding that the glaring inequalities in terms of distribution of resources was also of concern to the youth who have witnessed people amass massive wealth at the expense of the poor.- by Farai Mabeza[THE ZIMBABWEAN O6 JUNE 2013]
Posted on: Fri, 07 Jun 2013 14:22:24 +0000
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