To understand the interaction between society and political parties within the electoral system of southern Africa, a systematic investigation of social structures (cleavage analysis) and the success or failure of political parties based on their election programs (manifesto research) is essential. This research focuses on Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia, and South Africa. In nations employing proportional representation, coalition governments or alternative parties have not emerged since 1990. Conversely, in majoritarian systems, either coalitions have formed or a single party has dominated for decades. Findings indicate that electoral outcomes reflect societal cleavage structures, with indicators suggesting potential alignment with democratic expectations in the future. Part I establishes the theoretical framework for cleavage and party analysis, applied to the six case studies in Part II. The analysis explores eight cleavages—settlement area, occupation, income distribution, religion, ethnicity, language heritage, educational level, and citizenship. Political parties, representing social interests, articulate their goals in manifestos, which can be analyzed using Wordscores across policy domains such as Freedom and Democracy, Economy, and Social Groups. Each domain is defined by contrasting definitions for Left-Right categorization. Part III presents regional results that categorize political parties as Left,
