of  more  than  a  million:  the  only  lower  figure  (apart  from  Matabeleland  provinces)  was  for   Mashonaland  West.       Graph  3       BVR  Numbers:   13   November  2017   (ZEC) 450000 399783 400000 350000 300000 238206 243607 250000 200000 150000 100000 313906 324119 313334 291342 135390 88851 100586 50000 0     The  second  phase  of  the  BVR  Blitz  ended  on  13  November  2017, ��which  was  convenient  as  it  was   one  day  before  the  beginning  of  the  military  intervention  that  led  to  the  removal  of  Robert  Mugabe   and  the  appointment  of  Emmersen  Mnangagwa  as  president,  written  about  extensively  in  the   previous  section  by  the  current  authors.  This  means  that  it  is  possible  to  see  if  there  was  any   change  in  the  pace  of  voter  registration  that  might  be  attributed  to  this.       Causes  of  apathy:  before  the  military  intervention  in  November  2017     Alarm  bells  rang  for  civic  groupings  in  Bulawayo,  who  met  on  various  occasions  in  October  and   since,  to  discuss  what  was  contributing  to  the  apathy.  The  list  was  long.  Bulawayo  and   Matabeleland  generally  perceive  themselves  to  be  outside  the  body  politic,  with  little  of  benefit   having  accrued  to  their  region  since  independence.  Citizens  of  these  three  provinces  flocked  to  vote   in  2000,  their  first  chance  since  the  demise  of  ZAPU  in  1987  to  show  their  antipathy  towards  ZANU   PF.    In  fact,  21  out  of  23  parliamentary  seats  in  these  three  provinces  were  won  by  the  MDC  in   2000,  indicating  that  they  were  a  stronghold  that  needed  to  be  taken  seriously  by  the  MDC.   However,  these  provinces  have  increasingly  felt  that  their  vote  and  their  voice  does  not  influence   events  in  the  country  and  is  not  adequately  considered  by  opposition  parties.  Splits  in  2005,  which   saw  many  Matabeleland  MDC  heavy  weights  leaving  the  party,  and  new  splits  since  then,  have   disillusioned  people.86                                                                                                                 86  These  events  have  been  covered  in  detail  elsewhere:  see  Raftopoulos,  Brian:  The  Hard  Road  to  Reform,   Weaver  Press,  Harare,  2012.     26