The victory in the presidential election in Zimbabwe was claimed on Saturday by sitting President Emmerson Mnangagwa. This is reported by international news agencies. Mnangagwa is said to have received 52.6 percent of the vote, but the result is disputed by his rival Nelson Chamisa, who received 44 percent of the vote. According to Chamisa, Mnangagwa’s party has been guilty of electoral fraud.
Mnangagwa’s party, the Zanu-PF, also retained a parliamentary majority. Since Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980, the party has been the largest in the country. However, independent observers, including those from the European Union, say the elections fell short of transparency standards. Citizens Coalition for Change meetings of candidate Chamisa, for example, are said to have been canceled and voters intimidated.
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Five more years of Mnangagwa
Earlier this week, dozens of election observers were arrested, authorities say, for attempting to influence results. In addition, in cities where Chamisa and his party have strong supporters, delays in printing ballots have been reported, often resulting in long queues at polling stations.
Still, it seems that 80-year-old Mnangagwa is still president of Zimbabwe for at least the next five years. In 2017, the current president took over the head of the African country after Robert Mugabe was ousted in a coup. Elections were held a year later and Nelson Chamisa, then also a presidential candidate, was narrowly defeated.
Zimbabwe is struggling with major economic problems and sky-high inflation. There is a lot of unemployment in the country and a shortage of medicines. The country owes billions to Western countries, that of Mnangagwa that he is doing more about the dire human rights situation in the country.