Results are still being awaited after Zimbabweans voted on Monday in their first election since their sit-tight authoritarian leader, Robert Mugabe was ousted last year after 37 years in power. Interim President, Emmerson Mnangagwa, Mugabe’s former right-hand man in the ruling ZANU-PF party, contested mainly against opposition leader, Nelson Chamisa of the Movement for Democratic Change, MDC, in the historic vote. Officials who supervised the polls, which featured a large number of candidates, said long queues at many polling stations suggested there was high turnout nationwide.
Election observers from the European Union, EU, who monitored the voting process for the first time in years, said participation appeared high but warned of possible lapses. The EU’s chief observer, Elmar Brok, declared, “There are shortcomings that we have to check. We don’t know yet whether it was a pattern or whether it was a question of bad organisation in certain polling stations.” Brok said that, “overall, there was a huge amount of voting, especially young people, mostly in a very good atmosphere, generally peaceful, which is positive.”
The results of the presidential, parliamentary and local elections are due by August 4 (tomorrow). A run-off vote is scheduled for September 8 if no presidential candidate wins at least 50 percent in the contest that had 5.6million registered voters.
94-year old Mugabe, who voted at his polling station in Harare alongside his wife, Grace, surprised everyone by urging voters to reject ZANU-PF. Mnangagwa, who voted in his Kwekwe constituency in central Zimbabwe, said Mugabe had the right to express himself in the country’s democratic process.
