HARARE: Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa won the presidential election with just over 50 per cent of the ballots in the first vote since the fall of longtime leader Robert Mugabe. Mnangagwa received 50.8 per cent of the vote while main opposition challenger Nelson Chamisa received 44.3 per cent. The opposition has threatened to challenge the results in the courts or in the streets. While election day was peaceful, deadly violence against alleged vote-rigging claimed at least six lives.
'Humbled' by victory.
"Though we may have been divided at the polls, we are united in our dreams," Mnangagwa said. "This is a new beginning. Let us join hands to build a new Zimbabwe for all!" Western election observers 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. Shortly before the election commission's announcement, Morgen Komichi, the chief agent for Chamisa's opposition alliance said his party "totally rejects" the results and refused to sign the election results, adding that they 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. "There is continuity, stability," Manyeruke said. "Zimbabwe is poised for nation-building." The signs that Mnangagwa's election will be disputed appears to deepen a political crisis that was worsened by violence in Harare as the military opened fire to disperse opposition supporters alleging vote-rigging.
