Election in Zimbabwe: Opposition complains of manipulation - but believes in victory

In Zimbabwe, a new president and parliament are elected for the first time since the military coup against long-term ruler Robert Mugabe.

Nelson Chamisa, presidential candidate of the opposition, was initially self-confident in his vote in Harare on Monday. "The victory is safe," said the 40-year-old cheering supporters in a suburb of the capital. He then accused the electoral authorities of purposely slowing down the election in Harare and other cities in order to harm him in his strongholds.

AFP

Nelson Chamisa

In a poll just weeks before the election, incumbent Emmerson Mnangagwa was in the lead, but Chamisa narrowed the gap to just a few percentage points.

Mnangagwa himself used election day to bring Chamisa close to the ex-dictator Mugabe and to assert that free and fair elections will be held in Zimbabwe. Mugabe had indirectly called for the election of Chamisa on Sunday, saying that people should not vote for those "who bullied me".

On election day, the government's "The Herald," the government's mouthpiece to the government, accused Chamisa of trying to get Mugabe back into power. The opposition leader disguised himself only as an "independent man representing a new generation".

Emmerson Mnangagwa: From Mugabe Helper to Putschist

DPA

Closing Ceremony for Incumbent Emmerson Mnangagwa

Mnangagwa, Mugabe's outcast deputy, had led the coup against the dictator and forced the elderly despot out of office in November with the help of the army. Then Mnangagwa took over even the head of the party Zanu-PF and the presidency.

The new and former rulers were once close companions in the liberation struggle against the former colonial power Britain. Mnangagwa played an inglorious role in Zimbabwe's early days in the early 1980s: he organized the persecution of opposition tribes for Mugabe. On his initiative, Gukurahundi should go back - the planned mass murder of at least 20,000 civilians in the first years after independence.

"Snail's pace" in inner-city polling stations

In Zimbabwe, elections were also held under Robert Mugabe, but they never met democratic standards and were not internationally recognized.

DPA

Some Harares citizens have been standing in front of the polling stations since 4am

The opposition had now criticized shortly before the election, in rural areas voters had been pressured and forced to participate in election campaigns. UN human rights representatives also criticized. In the cities, the election observers should pay particular attention to the pace of the vote: Previously, it was a tactic of the Mugabe regime to delay the election in urban centers and thus weaken the opposition.

Please would observers note that in Bulawayo we are receiving numerous reports of voting at a snail's pace. @eueomzimbabwe @SADC_News @UKinZimbabwe @euinzim @P_VanDamme_EU https://t.co/m3UnB8lRb6

For the first time since 2002, international election observers from the EU, the USA, the South African community and numerous other organizations are represented in this poll. In total, 5.5 million people are registered as voters. Officially close the polling stations at 19 clock local time, with an end result is expected at the earliest in five days, said the electoral commission. If neither Mnangagwa nor Chamisa reaches an absolute majority, a runoff election follows.