COUNTING BEGINS IN ZIMBABWE POLL

COUNTING was under way in Zimbabwe’s first election since Robert Mugabe was ousted after 37 years in power, as observers warned of possible shortcomings in Monday’s landmark poll.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Mr Mugabe’s former right-hand man in the ruling ZANU-PF party, faced off against opposition leader Nelson Chamisa of the MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) in the historic vote.

“I am not shy to say I voted for Chamisa. He is young and can understand our plight as youth,” said Ndumiso Nyoni, 20, a worker at a lodge in Lupane, southern Zimbabwe.

Officials overseeing the polls, in which a record number of candidates stood, said many polling stations had queues and estimated turnout was around 75 per cent.

Picture: AFP Observers check votes at a polling station in a suburb of Zimbabwe’s capital Harare.