Riots shake Harare as election results delayed
RIOTING has erupted in Zimbabwe’s capital as opposition supporters clashed with police and army troops over delays in announcing results from the presidential election.
The security forces opened fire with guns, water cannons and tear gas, and protesters burned cars and threw rocks as helicopters hovered above Harare.
A lifeless body was seen near the demonstration, which came amid the delay in revealing the result of the country’s first presidential election since the fall of long-time leader Robert Mugabe.
Armoured personnel carriers ferried troops and riot police to the scene.
The commission postponed announcing results of Monday’s tightly fought presidential race, pitting President Emmerson Mnangagwa against opposition leader Nelson Chamisa.
The commission said it would release vote totals “some time” today, even though it said most of the results “are here with us”.
Agents for all 23 candidates must verify them first, it said.
The ruling Zanu-PF party won a majority of seats in parliament, the electoral commission said.
“The more the presidential vote is delayed, the more it calls into question the population’s confidence in the election process,” said former Liberian leader Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the lead observer of a US monitoring mission.
“The longer it (the delay in announcing the results of the presidential race), the more the issue of lack of credibility arises,” European Union observer Elmar Brok said.
Both the EU and US missions urged the release of the presidential results as soon as possible.
The EU mission questioned why presidential votes were counted first but were being announced last.
The EU observer mission expressed “serious concerns” as representatives of Western and other groups gave their first assessments of whether the vote was free and fair – crucial for lifting international sanctions on the once-prosperous country.
The EU observer mission said “a truly level playing-field was not achieved” in the election, pointing out the “misuse of state resources, instances of coercion and intimidation, partisan behaviour by traditional leaders and overt bias in state media”.