Ruling party ahead as votes still tallied

Zimbabwe’s ruling party took a commanding lead in the first parliamentary election of the post-Robert 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 Union-Patriotic Front winning 73 National Assembly seats, and Nelson Chamisa’s Movement for Democratic Change Alliance 28, official from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said in the capital, Harare, on Tuesday. The National Patriotic Front won one seat.

With the campaign and Monday’s vote having largely been peaceful, the focus now shifts to the credibility of the process. Observers noted a number of flaws and the opposition claimed there had been a deliberate attempt to frustrate and suppress urban voters.