Zimbabwe’s Oppn rejects ‘ fake’ Mnangagwa victory

Harare, Aug. 3: Zimbabwe’s Opposition on Friday rejected what it called the “fake” results of landmark elections in which President Emmerson Mnangagwa was declared victor.

Zimbabwe awoke to the news that Mnangagwa, a former ally of Robert Mugabe, had won the first polls since the autocrat’s ousting last year.

The Zimbabwe Election Commission ( ZEC) announced that Mnangagwa had scored 50.8 per cent of the vote, against 44.3 per cent for Nelson Chamisa, the main Opposition leader.

The narrow margin is just enough to avoid a runoff that would have been called if Mnangagwa had won less than half of the vote.

Chamisa lashed what he called “unverified fake results”. “The level of opaqueness, truth deficiency, moral decay & values deficit is baffling,” he wrote on Twitter.

Mnangagwa, who was chosen as Mugabe’s successor in the ruling ZANU- PF party in November after the brief military intervention that deposed the veteran leader, hailed his victory as a “new beginning” for Zimbabwe.

“Though we may have been divided at the polls, we are united in our dreams,” he tweeted.

Opposition allegations of foul play had already sparked a deadly crackdown on protesters in the capital Harare on Wednesday when troops opened fire, killing six. Soldiers and police had cleared the city centre on Thursday as the government vowed not to tolerate any more protests. But by Friday the streets and markets were crowded as usual.

An army truck and two water cannons were parked outside MDC headquarters.