Zimbabwean Independence Election of 1980
ZANU won 57 of 80 common-roll seats as Robert Mugabe became prime minister at independence.
Overview
The February 1980 election, monitored by Commonwealth observers under the Lancaster House ceasefire after seven years of war, drew an estimated 93 percent turnout of the newly enfranchised Black majority. Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF won 57 of 80 common-roll seats, to 20 for Nkomo's ZAPU and 3 for Muzorewa, with 20 white seats reserved. Mugabe's conciliatory inaugural message surprised war-weary whites who had feared a massacre. Independence came April 18, 1980, though ZAPU's later crushing and one-party ambitions darkened the promise of that founding vote.
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