HARARE: Mnangagwa won 52.6 percent of the votes against 44 percent for the main contender, Nelson Chamisa, Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) said.
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission Head Justice Chigumba also confirmed the development and told the media that Mnangagwa won the second term. The voters went to the ballot box to elect the country’s president and the parliament on Wednesday and Thursday in polling marred by postponements that sparked opposition allegations of “voter suppression” and “rigging.”
Zimbabwe: Mnangagwa Wins Second Term
However, Mkwananzi, a spokesperson for Chamisa’s Citizens Coalition for Change said the party did not ink the final tally, which he termed as “false”. He told AFP that they could not accept the results of the elections and the party would soon announce its next step. The election was being viewed across southern Africa as a test of support for Mnangagwa, whose 43 years rule has been assaulted by a declining economy.
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Foreign election monitors said that the polls had failed to conform to global standards, AFP reported. Observer missions from the Commonwealth, European Union, and Southern African Development Community listed several concerns. Chigumba said Mnangagwa had won over 2.3 million votes, Chamisa over 1.9 million. She said that voter turnout in the election was more than 69 percent. Mnangagwa took power after a coup that toppled the government of late ruler Robert Mugabe in 2017.
A year later, Mnangagwa narrowly beat, Nelson Chamisa a first time in an election that the opposition party condemned as fake and which was followed by a crackdown.
