President Emmerson Mnangagwa has won Zimbabwe’s presidential election, according to the electoral commission in Zimbabwe. The results have been contested by the opposition and alleged of widespread irregularities.
With all 10 provinces declared, Mr Mnangagwa won 50.8% of votes, compared to 44.3% for opposition leader Nelson Chamisa.
Police removed opposition officials from the electoral commission stage when they rejected the results.
The chairman of Mr Chamisa’s MDC Alliance said the count could not be verified and they will not accept a result marred with irregularities.
By narrowly winning more than 50% of the vote, Mr Mnangagwa avoids a run-off election against Mr Chamisa.
The president said on Twitter he was “humbled”, and called the result “a new beginning”.
Thank you Zimbabwe!
I am humbled to be elected President of the Second Republic of Zimbabwe.
Though we may have been divided at the polls, we are united in our dreams.
This is a new beginning. Let us join hands, in peace, unity & love, & together build a new Zimbabwe for all! pic.twitter.com/FbdrixAktR
— President of Zimbabwe (@edmnangagwa) August 2, 2018
Mr Mnangagwa, from the governing Zanu-PF party, took over as president last November from long-serving leader Robert Mugabe in a strange power troll that shocked Mugabe himself.
Mr Chamisa has insisted he is the winner of the presidential poll, telling reporters earlier on Thursday that Zanu-PF was “trying to bastardise the result”, something “we will not allow”.
But the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) said there was “absolutely no skulduggery”.
Six people died after opposition protests in Harare on Wednesday over alleged vote-rigging.
Mnangagwa called for calm and ordered an investigation into the violence that claimed innocent lives.
I am therefore calling for an independent investigation into what occurred in Harare yesterday. We believe in transparency and accountability, and those responsible should be identified and brought to justice.
3/6
— President of Zimbabwe (@edmnangagwa) August 2, 2018
The elections were the first since Mr Mugabe, 94, was ousted and were intended to set Zimbabwe on a new path following years of repressive rule.
Opposition Voices Against Election Results?
The day after the election, the MDC Alliance claimed Mr Chamisa had won the presidential vote, pre-empting an official announcement and prompting its supporters to celebrate in some areas of Harare.
The following day, when Zec announced that Zanu-PF had won the parliamentary vote by a landslide, tensions rose.
The opposition leader, who had declared himself the winner before, during and after the voting refused to accept he had been defeated and accused the country’s election commission of being in collusion with the ruling Zanu-PF party.
The acrimony which has marked the campaign was present right at the end with the MDC chairman Morgan Komichi taking to the stage at the Zimbabwe Election Commission (ZEC) offices during the announcement of the result to claim that the figures being presented were false.
