Mnangagwa wins Zimbabwe election
Zanu-pf leader hails a ‘new beginning’ as opposition condemns election count as fake
Emmerson Mnangagwa secured a narrow victory last night in Zimbabwe’s first election since Robert Mugabe was overthrown last year. Mr Mnangagwa hailed a “new beginning” after taking 50.8 per cent of the vote, avoiding by a tiny margin a second round run-off, the election commission said in Harare, the capital. Nelson Chamisa, his closest rival, took 44.3 per cent of the vote. The opposition MDC party challenged the result, describing the count as “fake”.
EMMERSON MNANGAGWA has secured a narrow victory in Zimbabwe’s first election since Robert Mugabe was overthrown last year.
Mr Mnangagwa last night hailed a “new beginning” after taking 50.8 per cent of the vote, attaining by a whisker the 50 per cent plus one vote majority required to avoid a second-round runoff, Zimbabwe’s election commission announced in Harare, the capital.
Nelson Chamisa, his nearest challenger, took 44.3 per cent of the vote.
Mr Mnangagwa’s victory makes him Zimbabwe’s second elected president and puts a stamp of legitimacy on his rule, which began with a military coup to oust Mr Mugabe, who had ruled the country with an iron fist for 37 years.
After the result was announced, Mr Mnangagwa said on Twitter: “Thank you Zimbabwe! I am humbled to be elected President of the Second Republic of Zimbabwe. Though we may have been divided at the polls, we are united in our dreams.
“This is a new beginning. Let us join hands, in peace, unity & love, & together build a new Zimbabwe for all!”
The result was immediately challenged by the opposition, as Morgan Komichi, the MDC’S spokesman, said “the count was fake” before being removed from the stage by police.
Mr Chamisa, who claimed victory almost immediately after polls closed on Monday, made clear before the results were announced that he would view any Mnangagwa victory as a product of electoral fraud.
“In all the constituencies where his MPS were winning, Mr Mnangagwa was losing. In all the constituencies where my MPS were not performing well, I won,” Mr Chamisa, 40, told reporters in Harare, just hours before results were announced. “We won this election. Mr Mnangagwa knows it. Zanu PF knows it. We have the proof.”
He said he would not dispute the parliamentary results, which saw Zanu-pf take 145 seats and the MDC Alliance 60 seats in the country’s 210 member parliament.
It was a nail-biting end to a historic election that was meant to mark Zimbabwe’s formal break with the Mugabe era, rejoin the international community, and attract financial assistance and investment to rebuild its wrecked economy.
It pitted Mr Mnanagawa, a 75-yearold veteran of Zanu-pf and former right hand man of Mr Mugabe, against Mr Chamisa, a dynamic 40-year-old lawyer and preacher who leads the Movement for Democratic Change, which aimed to tap into Zimbabwe’s huge youth vote. Both men competed for the mantle of reformer, promising only they could make the decisive break with the brutality and economic catastrophe of Mr Mugabe’s rule.
Traditional divisions were challenged as Mr Chamisa campaigned fiercely in formerly Zanu-pf dominated rural areas and Mr Mnangagwa wooed an urban middle class that would once have shunned the party of Mugabe on principle.
The entire campaign was subject to a last minute shock when Mr Mugabe himself emerged the day before the election to denounce his own former party and effectively endorse Mr Chamisa. International election observers from the EU and the Commonwealth have offered qualified praise for the peaceful conduct of both men’s campaigns and polling day itself, although they also heavily criticised Zanu-pf’s near total control of the media and abuse of state institutions, which they say did not create a level playing field. Opposition supporters complained that the delay in releasing the results suggested that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and Zanupf were collaborating in a fraud.
But bloodshed this week tarnished Mr Mnangagwa’s efforts to rebrand as a democrat, and his handling of tensions over the next few days will be seen as a key test of his promises to break with the abuses and violence of the Mugabe era. Police said at least six people were killed in clashes between opposition supporters and security forces after protests over alleged electoral fraud descended into rioting on Wednesday.
Soldiers were seen beating opposition supporters and firing automatic weapons at fleeing civilians in Harare city centre after they were deployed alongside police to quell the violence, drawing ferocious condemnation from the international community.
Britain, the former colonial power, demanded yesterday that the Zimbabwean government withdraw troops from the streets immediately.
International election observers from the EU and the commonwealth
‘No unity government. There has to a government of the people elected by the people’
condemned the “excessive use of force”.
There was a heavy security presence at electoral commission buildings as results were read out last night amid fears of returns to violence. While the government has warned it will not tolerate further trouble, Mr Mnangagwa yesterday called for an inquiry into the violence and said he had been “in communication with Mr Chamisa” to settle disputes peacefully.
“Those responsible should be identified and brought to justice,” he wrote on his Twitter account. Mr Chamisa shot down speculation of a post-election deal, saying: “No unity government. There has to a government of the people elected by the people.”