High-stakes Zimbabwe vote extended in wards hit by delays
- Long delays marred the start of balloting in key districts and sparked accusations of voter suppression
- President Emmerson Mnangagwa, nicknamed the ‘Crocodile’, is fighting for re-election against main rival Nelson Chamisa
Zimbabweans were called back to vote on Thursday in 40 wards affected by delays during Wednesday’s election and a prominent human rights lawyer alleged police were detaining about 40 civil society activists who had been monitoring the poll.
Both developments were likely to dent the credibility of the process in a country where the ruling ZANU-PF party has been in power for 43 years and previous elections have been marred by fraud and violence.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa was under pressure to deliver a clean election from foreign lenders and donors who have long shunned Zimbabwe due to ZANU-PF’s record of economic mismanagement, human rights abuses and vote-rigging.
Mnangagwa, 80, took over from long-time strongman Robert Mugabe when he was ousted in a military coup in 2017. Mnangagwa won a disputed election in 2018 and is seeking a second full term.
His re-election bid comes against a backdrop of economic misery, with runaway inflation, a currency that has lost 85 per cent of its value just this year and a joblessness crisis, leaving many Zimbabweans dependent on US dollar remittances from their relatives in the diaspora.
Mnangagwa’s main challenger is the same as in the previous election: lawyer and pastor Nelson Chamisa, 45, of the Citizens Coalition for Change, who says he will resist any attempts by ZANU-PF to manipulate the election to stay in power.
