{"id":3955,"date":"2018-08-03T01:58:27","date_gmt":"2018-08-03T08:58:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=3955"},"modified":"2018-08-03T01:58:27","modified_gmt":"2018-08-03T08:58:27","slug":"mnangagwa-declared-winner-of-countrys-first-post-mugabe-poll-as-opponent-nelson-chamisa-rejects-vote-the-independent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=3955","title":{"rendered":"“Mnangagwa declared winner of country\u2019s first post-Mugabe poll as opponent Nelson Chamisa rejects vote”, The Independent"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kim Sengupta, Harare, London, 3 August 2018<\/p>\n

Zimbabwe has its first elected leader of the post-Mugabe era \u2013 but faces an uncertain future as bitter divisions still remain<\/em><\/p>\n

The historic elections in Zimbabwe<\/a> officially finished in the early hours of Friday morning with Emmerson Mnangagwa, the ally turned enemy of Robert Mugabe, declared the winner by a narrow margin.<\/p>\n

But the outcome leaves an already fractured country with bitter divisions and an uncertain future with the fallout from the bitterly disputed polls due to continue.<\/p>\n

The opposition immediately refuted the result and warned of widespread protests, raising fears of further violence after troops shot\u00a0six people dead and injured more than 30 in clashes with protesters on Wednesday.<\/div>\n

Mr Mnangagwa passed the threshold for a first round victory of 50 per cent by 0.8 per cent while his main rival, Nelson Chamisa<\/a> of the MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) alliance got 44.3 per cent.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s election commission of\u00a0being in collusion with the ruling Zanu-PF party.<\/p>\n

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)\u00a0offices during the announcement of the result to claim that the figures being presented were false.<\/p>\n

Mr Komichi was\u00a0taken out by security guards after protests from Zanu-PF ministers and officials present but not before he had\u00a0been able to denounce\u00a0Mr Mnangagwa\u2019s victory as fake in front of a swathe of international media present to record the results.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe elections are fraudulent; everything has been done illegally,” he declared.<\/p>\n

Although Mr Mnangagwa\u2019s Zanu-PF had won the parliamentary poll by a significant margin, his personal win was far less emphatic, falling below the 53 to 55 per cent predicted by his supporters as well foreign diplomats.<\/p>\n

His supporters, however,\u00a0acclaimed his \u201ctriumph\u201d and 75-year-old Mr Mnangagwa, who had been acting president since Mr Mugabe\u2019s overthrow last November,\u00a0tweeted that he was \u201chumbled\u201d to be elected president. He added: \u201cAlthough we are divided at the polls, we are united in our dreams. This is a new beginning, let us join hands in peace, unity & love to build a new Zimbabwe for all.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the confrontation between the government and MDC continued with police raiding the party\u2019s headquarters on Thursday, arresting people and taking away computers.<\/p>\n

The operation was part of a security crackdown following clashes between security forces and crowds protesting against the country\u2019s election commission saying that the ruling Zanu-PF party had won the parliamentary poll by a large majority.<\/p>\n

Mr Chamisa and other opposition leaders were being investigated, according to a warrant of suspected \u201cpossession of dangerous weapons\u201d and encouraging \u201cpublic violence\u201d.<\/div>\n

But the real reason for the raid, said Mr Chamisa, was to remove evidence the party has discovered of vote rigging by Mr Mnangagwa\u2019s Zanu-PF. \u201cBut don\u2019t worry, the evidence has already been taken to a safe house,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Just hours before the election result was announced Mr Chamisa had declared that he would not accept the country\u2019s election commission awarding a \u201cfraudulent\u201d victory to rival Mr Mnangagwa,\u00a0adding that \u201cneither will the people\u201d.<\/p>\n

He dismissed the idea of\u00a0making a legal challenge against the election result saying \u201cthat would be a slippery path”. He said: “When you go into the court you are going into the lion\u2019s den. We are not going to be a meal for the lions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

A desperate Zanu-PF government, he claimed, was \u201cusing the tactics of Robert Mugabe\u201d as was shown by the killing of protesters.\u00a0\u201cThis government does not respect life,\u201d he said and demanded that those responsible for ordering the shooting should be prosecuted, inferring this may include Mr Mnangagwa.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ranks of those responsible don\u2019t come into it. How far does it go, does it include the commander-in-chief? Does it include the highest in the land? Who ordered the army to turn its guns on the people?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have visited all those injured and bereaved families, they weren\u2019t even MDC members, but people protesting against vote rigging. And those kinds of protests will continue if they think there is further vote rigging.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Mnangagwa has accused Mr Chamisa of whipping up violence with his rhetoric. As accusations and counter accusations continue there is sense of foreboding\u00a0in Zimbabwe\u2019s capital about what lies ahead.<\/p>\n

The normally bustling streets of\u00a0Harare have been extremely quiet for most of the day with many shops shut. The military are patrolling the streets and have been telling people to go home.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was told it was for my own safety, when I asked why they said there is likely to be violence,\u201d\u00a0said Fortune Nujei, an unemployed surveyor. \u201cThe only violence, I thought, had come from you guys. But I didn\u2019t say anything, these are dangerous days I think.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Independent<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kim Sengupta, Harare, London, 3 August 2018 Zimbabwe has its first elected leader of the post-Mugabe era \u2013 but faces an uncertain future as bitter divisions still remain The historic elections in Zimbabwe officially finished in the early hours of Friday morning with Emmerson Mnangagwa, the ally turned enemy of Robert Mugabe, declared the winner […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001004,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3955"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001004"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3955"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3956,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3955\/revisions\/3956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}