Zimbabwe voters head to polls
Mugabe denounces party he founded, backs Chamisa.
HARARE, Zimbabwe — On the eve of Zimbabwe’s first elections without him, former President Robert Mugabe held an off-the-cuff news conference at his home Sunday, renouncing the political party he helped found.
“I must say very clearly that I cannot vote for those who have tormented me,” Mugabe said of the current leaders of the Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front, the party he led from Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980 until his former allies forced him to resign in November.
He later implied that he would vote for Nelson Chamisa of the Movement for Democratic Change, whom he indicated is the only viable alternative in the presidential race.
“What is left? It is only Chamisa,” he said.
Mugabe, who has backed a new political party that is part of a coalition supporting Chamisa, said of him: “He seems to be doing well at his rallies. … I wish to meet him if he wins.”
He added: “Whoever wins, we wish him well. … And let us accept the verdict.”
Mugabe’s comments marked his first intervention into the tightly contested election.
He devoted most of his speech to criticizing President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who took the reins in November after a bloodless coup that was supported by the military. Today’s vote pits Mnangagwa, 75, against Chamisa, a 40-year-old lawyer and pastor.
“Thrust away the hypocrites,” Mugabe said. “Let tomorrow be the voice of the people saying we shall never again experience a period where the army is used to thrust one person into power.”
Mugabe on Sunday also lamented that African governments that had once backed him have so quickly started working with Mnangagwa.
“Our neighbors have been fooled into believing that it was not a coup d’etat. Nonsense, it was a coup d’etat,” Mugabe said.
Mugabe and his wife have been reclusive since November, mostly remaining in their mansion outside the capital, Harare.
In the late stages of his presidency, Mugabe lost much of his clout within his party after presiding over a precipitous economic decline and allowing his wife, Grace, to position herself as his possible successor.
On Sunday, Mugabe said the notion that he had planned to hand over power to Grace Mugabe was “utter nonsense.” He said he had intended to resign in December and that he had spoken to former Defense Minister Sydney Sekeremayi about being his replacement.
Mugabe blamed “evil and malicious characters” for his resignation. “I was a fool to have him next to me,” he said of Mnangagwa, whom he accused of conniving with the military chief to pull off a coup.
Later on Sunday, Mnangagwa said in a video posted on Facebook that Chamisa had “forged a deal” with Mugabe and that a vote for the opposition leader amounted to an endorsement of the old order.
“We can no longer believe that his intentions are to transform Zimbabwe and rebuild our nation,” the president said of Chamisa.
Chamisa, meanwhile, said at a news conference that he welcomed the vote of Mugabe or any other Zimbabwean and that “you don’t discriminate against voters.”
Many in Zimbabwe knew no other leader than Mugabe, who led the country for 37 years after independence from white minority rule in 1980. What began with optimism crumbled into repression of the opposition, alleged vote-rigging, violent land seizures from white farmers and years of international sanctions.
The southern African nation hopes that a credible vote could get those sanctions lifted and draw badly needed investment for the economy.
Despite Mugabe’s criticism of military intervention in politics, the military and ruling party have always been closely linked, with generals often becoming ministers and a heavy army presence deployed at polling booths in previous elections.
In 2008, Mugabe lost the first round of an election to a Movement for Democratic Change candidate. In the weeks between then and the runoff election, more than 200 opposition supporters were killed and thousands, including journalists, were arrested.
Movement for Democratic Change supporters and civil-rights organizations have documented widespread intimidation and vote-buying ahead of today’s vote, casting doubts on the credibility of the elections.
Chamisa and Mnangagwa held their final rallies Saturday, about a mile from each other in Harare.
There were tense standoffs between supporters who ran into each other afterward, but no violence was reported.
Mnangagwa, a former Mugabe confidante, has invited dozens of election observers from Western nations and pledged a free and fair vote. International election observers haven’t been in Zimbabwe since 2000, when Mugabe expelled them over perceived interference.