Mnangagwa And Chamisa Face Off As Voting Closes In Zimbabwe Presidential Election

Zimbabwe To Announce Election Results, August 4

Voting has closed in Zimbabwe’s first election since 94 year old Robert Mugabe was ousted after he led the state for 37 years.

Nigeria News reports that voting closed at 7 p.m. (1700 GMT) while official result is expected to be announced on August 4.

The election is a race between 75-year-old President Emmerson Mnangagwa, a long-time Mugabe ally, and 40-year-old Nelson Chamisa, a lawyer and pastor who is vying to become Zimbabwe’s youngest head of state.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa is Mugabe’s former right-hand man in the ruling ZANU-PF party, while  opposition leader Nelson Chamisa is of the MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) in the historic vote.

Mnangagwa is viewed as the front runner, though the latest opinion polls showed a tight race. There will be a runoff on September 8 if no candidate wins more than half the votes.

Meanwhile Chamisa said he is “winning resoundingly” as votes were counted in the first election since long-time ruler Robert Mugabe was ousted from power.

Chamisa, who raised allegations of voter fraud during the campaign, said that his MDC party had results from 10,000 polling stations.

On Monday, he alleged there was a “deliberate attempt to suppress” voting in urban areas — MDC strongholds.

“Winning resoundingly… We’ve done exceedingly well,” he said on Twitter after the landmark vote on Monday, adding “We are ready to form the next (government).”

Mnangagwa, 75, has promised change and is the front-runner, benefiting from tacit military support, loyal state media and ruling party controls of government resources.

Mnangagwa  who wrote on Twitter after polls closed noted that “Zimbabwe experienced a beautiful expression of freedom and democracy. In our millions, we voted in the spirit of tolerance, mutual respect and peace,” .

Mnangagwa, who voted in his Kwekwe constituency in central Zimbabwe, said Mugabe had the right to express himself in the country’s new “democratic space”.

He called on “citizens and candidates alike to exercise responsibility and restraint by patiently waiting” for official results.

The Counting which began in Zimbabwe on Monday, continued through the night after a strong turnout in Zimbabwe’s first election without Mugabe, who was ousted by the military last year after 37 years in office.

Officials overseeing the polls, in which a record number of candidates stood, said many polling stations had queues and estimated that average turnout was around 75 percent one hour before polls closed on Monday evening.

“It is our view that the high voter turnout is indicative of sound voter education and publicity,” said Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) chairwoman Priscilla Chigumba at a media briefing in Harare late Monday.

Previously-banned European Union election observers, present for the first time in years, said participation appeared high but warned of possible “shortcomings” in the vote process.

“I am not shy to say I voted for Chamisa. He is young and can understand our plight as youth,” said Ndumiso Nyoni, 20, a worker at a lodge in Lupane, southern Zimbabwe.

At one polling station in the capital Harare, officials counted large piles of votes using gas lanterns and candles late into the night.

“There are shortcomings that we have to check. We don’t know yet whether it was a pattern or whether it was a question of bad organisation in certain polling stations,” the EU’s chief observer Elmar Brok told Nigeria News. The bloc will deliver a report on the conduct of the election on Wednesday.

“Overall (there was) a huge amount of voting — especially young people, mostly in a very good atmosphere, generally peaceful, which is positive,” he added.

With 5.6 million registered voters, full results of the presidential, parliamentary and local elections are due by August 4.

Mugabe, 94, who was ousted by the military in November, voted at his customary polling station in Harare alongside his wife Grace after a surprise two-hour press conference at his home on Sunday when he called for voters to reject ZANU-PF.

Mugabe, wearing a dark suit and red tie, was greeted with cheers after casting his ballot but did not answer journalists’ questions about who he voted for.

Voting appeared to pass off largely without incident despite the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights warning of intimidation and threats of violence in the run-up to polling day.

The new government will face mass unemployment and an economy shattered by the seizure of white-owned farms under Mugabe, the collapse of agriculture, hyperinflation and an investment exodus.

“While investors remain sceptical over whether Mugabe’s former right-hand man has indeed turned over a new leaf, Mnangagwa’s charm offensive with Western governments and businesses has at least given him a credible lifeline at the poll,” said Verisk Maplecrodt analyst Charles Laurie in a note.