HARARE, July 31, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Zimbabwe’s two rival presidential
candidates on Tuesday both claimed they were heading for victory as votes
were counted in the country’s first election since long-time ruler Robert
Mugabe was ousted from power.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa said that his ruling ZANU-PF party was
receiving “extremely positive” data on the count, while the opposition leader
Nelson Chamisa said his MDC party was “winning resoundingly”.
Zimbabwe appeared to be heading for a contested result in the historic
election, raising the likelihood of a bitter battle over allegations of fraud
and malpractice from both sides.
“The information from our reps on the ground is extremely positive! Waiting
patiently for official results as per the constitution,” Mnangagwa, 75,
Mugabe’s former right-hand man, said on Twitter.
Chamisa, 40, who raised allegations of voter fraud repeatedly during the
campaign, said that his MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) party had
results from most of the more than 10,000 polling stations.
“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).”
– Youth vote turns out –
Counting had continued through the night after a strong turnout in
Zimbabwe’s first election without Mugabe, who was ousted by the military in
November after 37 years in office.
ZANU-PF has held an iron grip on power in Zimbabwe since independence from
British colonial rule in 1980, and victory for the opposition would be a
major upset.
Analysts have said it was unclear whether the generals, who back Mnangagwa,
would accept a MDC win.
Officials overseeing the elections, in which a record number of candidates
stood, said many polling stations had queues and estimated that average
turnout was around 75 percent by late Monday afternoon.
Previously-banned European Union election observers, present for the first
time in years, said participation appeared high but warned of possible
problems in the vote process.
“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 AFP.
The bloc will deliver a preliminary 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,”
Brok added.
– Counting by candlelight –
At one polling station in the capital Harare, officials counted large piles
of votes using gas lanterns and candles late into the night.
“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,
western Zimbabwe.
With 5.6 million registered voters, full results of the presidential,
parliamentary and local elections are due by August 4.
A run-off vote is scheduled for September 8 if no presidential candidate
wins at least 50 percent.
Mugabe, 94, whose authoritarian regime held power via fraud-riddled and
violent elections, voted at his customary polling station in Harare alongside
his wife Grace after a surprise press conference at his home on Sunday when
he called for voters to reject ZANU-PF.
Mnangagwa was the clear election front-runner, benefitting from tacit
military support, loyal state media and ruling party controls of government
resources.
But his rival Chamisa, a young lawyer and pastor who has performed strongly
on the campaign trail, vowed to tap into the huge youth vote.
The new government will face tackling mass unemployment and an economy
shattered by the seizure of white-owned farms under Mugabe, the collapse of
agriculture, hyperinflation and an investment exodus.
Previously solid health and education services are in ruins and millions
have fled abroad to seek work.
In 2008, then opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out of the
presidential run-off against Mugabe after attacks orchestrated by the state
claimed the lives of at least 200 of his supporters.