President Mnangagwa wins first post-Mugabe election in Zimbabwe
HARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa won election Friday as the ruling ZANU-PF party maintained control of the government in the first vote since the fall of Robert Mugabe.
Mr. Mnangagwa received 50.8 percent of the vote while main opposition challenger Nelson Chamisa received 44.3 percent. The opposition is likely to challenge the results.
While election day was peaceful, violence on Wednesday against people protesting alleged vote-rigging reminded many Zimbabweans of the decades of military-backed repression under Mr. Mugabe.
Zimbabwe’s president says he is “humbled” by his win.
“This is a new beginning. Let us join hands, in peace, unity & love, & together build a new Zimbabwe for all!” Mr. Mnangagwa tweeted, after a week that began with peaceful voting Mondaybut spiraled into violence in the capital Wednesday as the military fired on protesters.
Western election observers who were banned in previous votes have expressed concern at the military’s “excessive” force in the capital, Harare. Their assessments of the election are crucial to the lifting of international sanctions on a country whose economy collapsed years ago.
On Thursday, Harare’s streets were eerily empty. Almost all businesses were closed.
Shortly before the election commission’s announcement, Morgen Komichi, the chief agent for Mr. Chamisa’s opposition alliance, took the stage and said his party “totally rejects” the results and said he had not signed the election results. Police escorted him from the room.
Later, Mr. Komichi said the elections were “fraudulent” and “everything has been done illegally.” He said he had refused an electoral commission request to sign papers certifying Mr. Mnangagwa’s win.
“We’re not part of it,” said Mr. Komichi, adding that the opposition would be challenging the election in the courts.
Commission chair Priscilla Chigumba urged the country to “move on” with the hopeful spirit of election day and beyond the “blemishes” of Wednesday’s chaos: “May God bless this nation and its people.”
With the military still deployed in Harare, the capital’s streets were quiet following the announcement of Mr. Mnangagwa’s victory.
By the center where the election results were announced, Charity Manyeruke, who teaches political science at the University of Zimbabwe, said she was delighted.
“There is continuity, stability,” Ms. Manyeruke said. “Zimbabwe is poised for nation-building.”
The signs that Mr. Mnangagwa’s election will be disputed appears to deepen a political crisis that was worsened by Wednesday’s violence in Harare as the military swept in with gunfire to disperse opposition supporters alleging voterigging.
The death toll rose to six, with 14 injured, police said, and 18 people were arrested at the offices of the main opposition party amid tensions over a vote that was supposed to restore trust in Zimbabwe after decades of Mr. Mugabe’s rule.
While Mr. Mnangagwa and the ruling party accused the opposition of inciting the violence, the opposition, human rights activists and international election observers condemned the “excessive” force used against protesters and appealed to all sides to exercise restraint.