Parties hold final rallies before vote
Poll shows Mnangagwa is favorite but the race is too close to call
HARARE — Zimbabwean political parties concluded their campaigning on Saturday ahead of Monday’s vote.
Both Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his main challenger Nelson Chamisa of the MDC Alliance held their final rallies in the capital Harare.
Zimbabwe’s constitution stipulates that campaigning must end 24 hours before election day.
Both leaders urged their supporters to turn out in numbers on Monday to secure victory for their parties.
Mnangagwa and Chamisa also urged their supporters to maintain peace to ensure the polls are held in a peaceful environment.
Mnangagwa, who took over from former President Robert Mugabe after his resignation in November last year, has in the past few months been traversing the country to drum up support for his governing ZANU-PF party.
“We have opened the country to the world,” Mnangagwa said on Saturday, claiming that hundreds of investors had poured into the country since he took office with billions of dollars in commitments.
“Allow him to finish the job he started,” said one supporter of the president, Erica Chindoma, who like many was bused in by the ruling party to attend the stadium rally under heavy security.
Chamisa, a rousing pastor and lawyer with little government experience, promised a convincing defeat of Mnangagwa, saying the president had done his part in helping to liberate Zimbabwe from white minority rule.
“Your time is up,” he said. “If we miss our opportunity on Monday we are doomed for life.”
He has also been traveling across the country over the past months soliciting votes for the party whose leadership he assumed in February following the death of founding leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
We are not voting for today or tomorrow but we are voting for generations to come.” Emmerson Mnangagwa,
Close to call
Mnangagwa is favorite although the latest opinion poll said the race was too close to call.
In total, Chamisa said he addressed 82 rallies across Zimbabwe with three quarters of them being held in rural areas, previously no-go areas for the party under Mugabe.
Mnangagwa said apart from bringing economic prosperity, his party will also ensure the protection of Zimbabwe’s heritage once re-elected.
“This coming Monday we will win the election. We are not voting for today or tomorrow but we are voting for generations to come. Together we will unlock the potential of our beloved country. Together we will build a new Zimbabwe for all,” Mnangagwa told thousands of party supporters gathered at the National Sports Stadium in Harare.
Chamisa also expressed confidence of winning, saying his party will form the next government in Zimbabwe.
“We are going to the new Zimbabwe. We are the next government in this country. Out of the 5.6 million registered voters, we expect to get not less than 65 percent. We want a clean sweep to silence our opponents,” he told thousands of party supporters gathered at an open space just outside Harare.
He said once elected, the party will institute measures to immediately respond to the needs of the people as well as building a nonracial Zimbabwe that respects workers rights and boasts of an efficient economy.
A runoff will be held in September if neither candidate wins outright.