Last Updated on August 3, 2018 8:00 am by INDIAN AWAAZ
Electoral commission in Zimbabwe declared Emmerson Mnangagwa as president with a 50.8 percent of the vote. Opposition protesters have accused the ruling party of trying to rig the election.
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With all 10 provinces declared, Mnangagwa won 50.8 per cent of votes to 44.3 per cent for opposition leader Nelson Chamisa of MDC party.
Zimbabwe Electoral Commission declared ZANU-PF party’s Mnangagwa, a duly declared elected president. Mnangagwa needed over 50 per cent of the vote to secure victory without a second-round run-off.
Meanwhile the opposition has rejected the results. The chairman of Chamisa’s MDC Alliance said the count could not be verified and moments before the official announcement, it’s spokesman denounced the results as fake.
Mnangagwa led Chamisa by some 230,000 votes after nine of the ten provinces had been declared. Mnangagwa had 53 percent or 2.15 million votes counted over Chamisa’s 47 percent or 1.92 million votes.
After the first four of ten provincial results, Chamisa’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) had a lead of about 50,000 votes over the ruling ZANU-PF but after the fifth province was announced, the lead had switched to Mnangagwa.
When the final province was reported, Mnangagwa’s share of the vote was declared at 50.8 percent by the electoral commission.
Chamisa’s share was 44.3 percent of the total vote.
To become president, a candidate has to take more than 50 percent of the vote. Chamisa did well in urban areas but Mnangagwa outperformed him in rural zones.
The announcement came after clashes between opposition protesters and soldiers in Harare left at least six people dead. The unrest marred what had been billed as an important milestone in Zimbabwe’s efforts to return to democracy following 37 years of repression under longtime leader Robert Mugabe.
Results announced by the electoral commission:
Mnangagwa was declared president with 50.8 percent of the vote to Chamisa’s 44.3 percent.
The ruling ZANU-PF party won 144 of the 210 seats in parliament — a two-thirds majority that enables it to change the constitution.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) took 61 seats.
The electoral commission was yet to announce three undeclared seats.