The leader of the opposition in Zimbabwe, Nelson Chamisa, challenged on Sunday August 27 the re-election, officially announced the day before, of outgoing President Emmerson Mnangagwa and claimed victory after a ballot with many dysfunctions and whose regularity has been questioned.
“We won this election. We are the leaders. We are even surprised that Mnangagwa was declared the winner (…). We have the real results,” Mr Chamisa, a 45-year-old lawyer and pastor who heads the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), told a press conference in Harare. “This is a blatant and gigantic fraud,” he previously said on X (formerly Twitter).
According to the electoral commission, Mr. Mnangagwa obtained 52.6% of the votes cast against 44% in favor of Nelson Chamisa, at the head of the first opposition party, the Citizens’ Coalition for Change (CCC).
Zimbabweans went to the polls on Wednesday and Thursday to choose their president and MPs. Nearly 69% of registered voters took part in the vote. The ballot, which was due to close on Wednesday evening, had to be extended by one day.
The regularity of the ballot “tainted”
Scrambles, including the lack of ballots in offices, have increased especially in the capital Harare, an opposition stronghold.
The CCC, which had previously denounced “fraud” and “obstruction” during the vote, rejected the results. “We have not endorsed the results because they are skewed. The electoral and pre-electoral context was not favorable, especially for us,” party spokesperson Promise Mkwananzi told Agence France-Presse. “We cannot accept the results,” he said.
For their part, observers from Southern Africa (SADC) and Commonwealth countries unanimously questioned the smooth running of the electoral process this week. They pointed to “serious problems” that marred the “regularity” and “transparency” of the ballot, as well as the violation of “numerous international standards” governing democratic elections.
Observers from the European Union and the embassies of the United States and the United Kingdom were even more scathing, denouncing violence and intimidation, and pointing out that the organization of the poll played largely in favor of Mr. Mnangagwa and the party in power.
