According to official results released by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), Mnangagwa, 80 received 52.6% of the votes. His closest opponent Nelson Chamisa, 45, came in second with 44%. According to ZEC chairperson Justice Chigumba, “Mnangagwa Emmerson Dambudzo of ZANU-PF party is declared duly elected president of the Republic of Zimbabwe.”
On Wednesday and Thursday, Zimbabweans went to the polls to elect the country’s president and legislature. The voting process was hampered by delays. This led the opposition to charge that there had been voter suppression and vote-rigging.
A few governing party supporters cheered in celebration when the presidential results were announced at the news conference site. The final tally, according to Promise Mkwananzi, a spokeswoman for Chamisa’s Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), was deemed “false” since the party did not sign it.
He told AFP, “We cannot accept the results,” and that the party will soon announce its future steps. The poll was being observed throughout southern Africa as a test of Mnangagwa’s ZANU-PF’s popularity, whose 43-year reign has been weakened by a stagnant economy and accusations of tyranny.
The elections did not meet regional and international norms, according to foreign poll observers who reported their findings on Friday.
“The elections were fraught with irregularities and aggrieved the people of Zimbabwe,” political analyst Rejoice Ngwenya said. “The CCC has good grounds to go to court and challenge the outcome”.
Mnangagwa received more than 2.3 million votes, while Chamisa received more than 1.9 million, according to ZEC’s Chigumba. The president avoided a run-off by receiving more than half of the votes cast. The voter turnout was 69%.
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