What is an election cycle?

An election cycle, sometimes called an "electoral cycle," is a well-established concept in electoral practice, which is all too familiar to students of electoral politics and electoral law. All countries, be they constitutional democracies, parliamentary systems or absolute monarchies have election cycles of one sort or another.

At its core, the concept of election cycle defines the disciplined continuum: a structured and demarcated period emblematic of the preparation, conduct and aftermath of elections; often viewed as a continuous process rather than isolated events. 

Typically, an election cycle begins the day after the previous general election for a given office and runs through the date of the next general election for that same office—whose end is marked by the assumption of office by the elected officer. As such, an election cycle forges an unbroken chain of accountability that no government can escape.

In Zimbabwe, the election cycle is the five-year period which expresses the Constitution's harmonised election triad of "term or length of Office of President" (section 95); "Duration or life Parliament" (section 143); and the "Timing of Elections" (section 158); as read with section 38 of the Electoral Act on "General, presidential and local authority elections". This triad defies the country's election cycle, measures leadership, tests legitimacy and renews the social contract.

Constitution of Zimbabwe (Amendment No. 3) Bill, 2026  seeks, inter alia, to lengthen the county's election cycle from five to seven years. It's a Sabbath initiative!