Figure 7 : Political party affiliation – Rural versus Urban 90% 80% 79% 70% 60% 50% 65% 71% 64% 54% 47% 40% 30% 20% ZANU PF 36% MDC-T 26% 17% 10% 17% 16% 6% 0% Urban Rural Urban Rural Urban Rural 2004 2005 2009 What is more remarkable is the huge growth in support from the rural respondents for MDCT, paralleling the drop in support for ZANU-PF and clearly reflected in the success had by MDC-T in elections in 2008. The shift for urban respondents from support for ZANU-PF is equally dramatic, from 54% in 2004 down to a mere 6% in 2009. A fair conclusion from the findings is that launching OM did ZANU-PF no favours when it came to political party support and voting. Conclusions Here we were concerned with the less material consequences of OM: how Zimbabwean citizen’s agency was affected, and, in particular, examining the finding from the previous study that risk aversion remained more common in urban than rural citizens. Even in the context of an increase in risk taking by 2014, urban citizens were less likely to be risk takers than rural citizens. It is not remarkable that OM, as an urban-focused exercise, would result in severe consequences for the targets, but it is very interesting that the effects were so much more widespread than merely the displacement and impoverishment of urban residents. We have found effects for every measure we took: OM resulted in greater immediate Lived Poverty, lowered Political and Community Participation, reduced Political Trust, and hugely influenced changes in Political Affiliation. The effects were generally worse for urban residents: there were similar effects for rural folk, but generally of lower magnitude. The most startling effect was upon Political Affiliation. If the oft-speculated intention behind OM was to undermine the support base for MDC-T, this clearly backfired, and the consequence was an enormous shift in allegiance from ZANU-PF to MDC-T, and remarkably, in the traditional support base for the party in the rural areas. Thus, in retrospect, the result of the election in 2008 is not surprising. However, the period from 2005 to 2008 was also a time of hyperinflation and severe stress upon everyone’s livelihoods. It is probable that OM and economic hardship combined to produce the electoral result of not only giving MDC-T a majority in parliament, but also winning a significant number of rural seats. 12