Zimbabwe’s opposition leader, Nelson Chamisa, on Sunday challenged the re-election officially announced the day before of incumbent President Emmerson Mnangagwa and claimed victory, after a ballot with many dysfunctions, the regularity of which was put in question.

Mr. Mnangagwa was reappointed for a second term with 52.6% of the votes cast, against 44% in favor of Mr. Chamisa, according to the results announced late Saturday by the electoral commission. The opposition immediately claimed not to have endorsed these “distorted” results.

“We won this election. We are the leaders. We are even surprised that Mnangagwa was declared the winner… We have the real results,” Chamisa, a 45-year-old lawyer and pastor, said during the of a Sunday press conference in Harare.

Zimbabweans went to the polls on Wednesday and Thursday to choose their president and MPs. The battle was mainly between Zanu-PF, which had been in power since independence in 1980, and Mr Chamisa’s Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), the largest opposition party.

“We knew that we were going to participate in elections marred by irregularities. We have an incorrect electoral list, a wobbly division of constituencies. The ballot was marred by anomalies. The electoral environment was biased”, listed the opponent .

Emmerson Mnangagwa, who spoke earlier in the day from the presidential palace, challenged those challenging his re-election to go to court: “Those who feel the race has not been run properly should know where to go.”

Voting lapses, such as the lack of ballots at polling stations, increased particularly in Harare, an opposition stronghold. The ballot, which was scheduled to close on Wednesday evening, had to be extended the following day.

International observers have highlighted “serious problems” and the violation of “numerous international standards” governing democratic elections, tarnishing the “transparency” of the ballot.

According to observers from the European Union, Southern Africa (SADC) and Commonwealth countries, voters could not be found on the lists. Others have been the target of intimidation in offices. The vote nevertheless took place in a “calm and peaceful” context, they underlined.

Reaffirming Zimbabwe’s “independence and sovereignty”, Mr Mnangagwa warned against criticism.

“As a sovereign state, we ask our guests to respect our national institutions”, he said, preferring to draw attention to “the enormous participation in the exercise of this sacred right which is the vote”. Nearly 69% of registered voters turned out to vote.

In a statement, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he was “concerned by the arrests of observers, reports of voter intimidation”. He called on the parties to “reject all forms of violence” and settle disputes peacefully and “transparently” so that the outcome of the vote is “a true reflection of the will of the people”.

In the streets of the capital, the day after the announcement of the results, some read the newspapers while others let their disillusionment speak.

“The results are not good, there is something wrong somewhere,” is convinced Godwell Gonye, ??interviewed by AFP.

A little further on, another admits not even having looked at the results closely. “We accept them as they are, it’s the decision of the majority and we respect it,” said this man with fatalism.

However, Tinashe Gunda does not budge, “here we expect change, development and economic stability”.

To win the election, the opposition was counting on this hope for a better life, in the face of rampant corruption and shortages of gasoline, bread or medicine, in an economy that had been damaged for twenty years.

But already the campaign, in this country long ruled with an iron fist by the hero of the liberation Robert Mugabe, dismissed in 2017 by a coup d’etat, had been marked by repression without nuance.

The CCC denounced the banning of dozens of meetings and the arrests of opponents, in a country already burdened by a long history of elections marred by irregularities.

In 2018, Mr. Mnangagwa, successor to Mugabe, was narrowly elected (50.8%). The army fired on demonstrators two days after the election, killing six.

Mr. Chamisa, already his opponent in the presidential election, had unsuccessfully challenged the result in court.

08/27/2023 23:38:01 –         Harare (AFP) –         © 2023 AFP