Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News – 02-08-2018
Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa won election Friday with just over 50 percent of the ballots as the ruling party maintained control of the government in the first vote since the fall of longtime leader Robert Mugabe.
Associated Press reports that Mnangagwa received 50.8 percent of the vote while main opposition challenger Nelson Chamisa received 44.3 percent.
While election day was peaceful in a break from the past, deadly violence on Wednesday against people protesting alleged vote-rigging reminded many Zimbabweans of the decades of military-backed repression under Mugabe.
Manangagwa said on Twitter he is “humbled” by his win.
“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!”
Shortly before the election commission’s announcement, Morgen Komichi, the chief agent for Chamisa’s opposition alliance, took the stage and said his party “totally rejects” the results and said he had not signed the election results.
Police escorted him from the room.
Komichi says the elections were “fraudulent” and “everything has been done illegally.”
He says he had refused an electoral commission request to sign papers certifying Mnangagwa’s win and would be challenging the election in the courts.
“The results that have been announced have not been verified by us… so the results are fake,”
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.
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