President Emmerson Mnangagwa is re-elected in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa claimed victory on Saturday in an election marred by widespread allegations that the ruling party, ZANU-PF, had committed fraud.

Mnangagwa’s victory over his closest competitor, Nelson Chamisa, after his first full term strengthened ZANU-PF’s grip on power in a nation it has led since its independence from Britain in 1980. For the past two decades, Zimbabwe has suffered from disastrous economic policies that have led to skyrocketing prices, high unemployment, and a medical system lacking in basic medicines and equipment.

With Mnangagwa, 80, gaining another five years in office, Zimbabwe is likely to continue to fight to break its isolation from Western nations, which have demanded greater democracy and respect for human rights in exchange for helping it deal with 18,000 millions of dollars. in debt.

Zimbabwe, a southern African nation of 16 million people, has a history of electoral irregularities, and such tactics helped Robert Mugabe, a liberation leader turned autocrat, maintain power for nearly four decades. Mugabe was ousted in a 2017 coup by Mnangagwa and his allies. The following year, Mnangagwa scored a victory over Chamisa in an election, garnering just over 50 percent of the vote.

This year’s vote, held on Wednesday, was marred by chaotic delays of more than 10 hours at some polling places because the country’s electoral commission failed to deliver ballots on time. Thousands of voters found themselves camping overnight at polling stations due to the delays, which mainly affected urban areas, where Chamisa and his party have the most support.

Zimbabwe police drew global condemnation for arresting dozens of members of one of the country’s most respected election monitoring bodies on election night, accusing them of conspiring to sow discord by publishing projected election results. The night after the raid, ZANU-PF officials offered their own election projections at a press conference and did not draw the ire of the police.

Before the results were announced, several independent foreign observer missions criticized the fairness and credibility of the elections. The European Union mission offered some of the most scathing criticism, saying in a statement that the government restricted fundamental freedoms by passing repressive laws “and through acts of violence and intimidation, which resulted in a climate of fear.”

Although election day was peaceful, “the electoral process failed to meet many regional and international standards, including equality, universality and transparency,” according to the statement.

ZANU-PF spokesman Christopher Mutsvangwa said the accusations of vote rigging were “all hoaxes.” The electoral mechanics were foolproof, he said, and agents from each party were allowed to observe the vote count and approve the results in each constituency.

“We have shown the entire world that we have exercised democracy,” he said.

Before Wednesday’s vote, ZANU-PF used the state machinery to shut down opposition demonstrations and try to have candidates barred from the election in court, analysts said. The ruling party also deployed Forever Associates Zimbabwe, a pseudo-military organization run by people with close ties to the government intelligence agency, to intimidate voters in rural communities, said Bekezela Gumbo, a senior fellow at the Zimbabwe Democracy Institute, a think tank group. nonpartisan experts. in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe’s Electoral Commission, responsible for conducting the elections, is packed with officials linked to ZANU-PF, Gumbo said. Critics said the commission had failed to produce a definitive list of voters and kept adjusting polling places, which could lead to confusion and voters would show up at the wrong places to cast their ballots.

The electoral commission attributed delays in voting on election day to court challenges that delayed the printing of ballots. But critics pointed out that the delays occurred mainly in Harare and other urban areas that are opposition strongholds.

On Wednesday afternoon, Mirirai Moyo, a mother of three, had returned to her market stall in a Harare suburb after a failed attempt to cast her ballot in the morning. There were no ballots at her polling station, she said.

“I can’t go back because it’s already late,” he said. “It’s sad now. This is what ZANU-PF wanted because they knew that there would be people like me who would not be able to stay at the polling stations late.”

Voters were also awoken on Wednesday to leaflets littering the streets of Harare and the southern city of Bulawayo falsely claiming Chamisa’s party was urging people not to vote, an apparent attempt to suppress opposition turnout.

Near some polling stations, ZANU-PF set up tables where officials allegedly conducted exit polls. They asked voters for their personal information and who they voted for, and in some cases intimidated citizens before they cast their ballots, according to multiple news and social media reports.

Many had hoped that a defeat for Mnangagwa, a former guerrilla fighter in Zimbabwe’s battle for independence from British colonial rule, would represent a clear break with suffering under Mugabe.

Under Mnangagwa’s leadership, obscenely high triple-digit inflation returned. An estimated 90 per cent of the workforce is in informal odd jobs, such as selling roadside vegetables, while increasing numbers of more educated Zimbabweans are leaving the country in search of economic opportunities.

Nearly six in 10 Zimbabweans believe corruption has worsened since Mnangagwa took office, and more than 70 percent say the country is headed in the wrong direction, according to Afrobarometer, a nonpartisan research firm that conducts polls across Africa. .

Supporters of the president and ZANU-PF argued that he had set the country up for economic success by attracting investors despite barriers they believe have been erected by the West. Zimbabwe has the largest reserves of lithium in Africa, a key mineral for electric car batteries and other clean technologies. Chinese companies have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in lithium production in the country.

“Many people love President ED Mnangagwa for his pro-development drive,” said Nyasha Musavengana, wearing a green T-shirt with the president’s photo as she took part in a pre-election rally. “Brick by brick, step by step, he is fixing things in Zimbabwe.”

Although Mnangagwa has spoken of deeper engagement with the United States and Europe, he has also gleefully embraced rival Western nations, particularly China and Russia. Just weeks after attending a US-hosted business conference in Botswana, Mnangagwa was the frontrunner at a Russia-Africa summit in July, where he delivered a speech proclaiming his support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. he too happily He accepted Putin’s gift of a helicopter.

Chamisa, 45, presented an entirely different view. A member of Parliament for the past 20 years, as well as a lawyer and preacher, he has expressed a desire to re-engage with the United States and Europe. He leads a new party, the Citizens’ Coalition for Change, and told Zimbabweans he was offering them a break from the corruption of years gone by.

“I voted CCC because I’m tired of suffering,” Maggie Sibanda, 70, said after casting her ballot near Bulawayo. “My children are in South Africa and they want to go home, but how can they when things are so bad?”

Jeffrey Moyo contributed reporting from Harare, Zimbabwe, and Tendai Marima from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.