Ruling party takes early lead
Zimbabwe’s ruling party took a commanding lead in the first parliamentary election of the postRobert Mugabe era, as the count neared the half-way mark.
Tallies from 102 of the 210 constituencies showed President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s Zimbabwe African National UnionPatriotic Front winning 73 National Assembly seats, and Nelson Chamisa’s Movement for Democratic Change Alliance 28, officials from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said in the capital, Harare. The National Patriotic Front won one seat.
With the campaign and vote having largely been peaceful, the focus now shifts to the credibility of the process and whether the results are accepted, key pillars needed to rebuild the nation after two decades of decline under Mugabe’s rule. The jury is still out on whether the contest was fair, with observers noting a number of flaws and the opposition alleging there had been a deliberate attempt to frustrate and suppress urban voters.
Mnangagwa, 75, and Chamisa, 40, are the stand-out favourites in the presidential race, which featured 22 candidates. Final results must be out by Saturday.
Zimbabwe’s 270-seat National Assembly comprises 210 directly elected members and 60 women chosen via proportional representation.
It also has an 80-seat senate, with 60 members elected via proportional representation, 18 positions reserved for traditional leaders and two for candidates with disabilities. Zanu-PF previously controlled 196 seats in the assembly seats and 57 in the senate.
Chamisa, a lawyer and pastor who took control of the MDC after the death of its founding leader Morgan Tsvangirai in February, said that based on his party’s own count of unofficial results from more than 90 per cent of the 10,985 polling stations, the MDC was ‘‘winning resoundingly’’ and ready to form the next government. – Bloomberg