Late on Saturday, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) declared 80-year-old Zanu PF incumbent Emmerson Mnangagwa the winner with 52 percent of the vote. Opposition leader Nelson Chamisa, 45, who heads the Citizens Coalition for Change, got 44 percent, according to an announcement from the commission.
Zimbabwe’s main opposition leader has alleged rigging in the country’s election after President Emmerson Mnangagwa was declared the winner and international observers reported an environment of intimidation against voters.
Foreign observer missions said last week’s elections failed to meet regional and international standards after chaos marred the first day of voting, with polling spilling over into the next day. Observers were also alarmed by the harassment of election observers who were providing an independent check on the results.
ZESN and ERC said on Sunday that their observers were still being hounded by the authorities, amid reports that one of them had his house set on fire.
“Since election day, ERC and ZESN have continued to receive reports of observers and staff being targeted, threatened and assaulted, including one incident where an observer’s house was torched hours after the announcement of the presidential election results,” the two organisations said in a statement.
“This continued intimidation and silencing by state actors of anyone who can provide verification and transparency of the election results fundamentally undermines their credibility and the credibility of these elections.”
Forty-one observers from the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) and the Election Resource Centre (ERC) were arrested on 23 August, accused of trying to announce unofficial results.
The spokeswoman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Florencia Soto Nino-Martinez, said on Sunday that they were closely following developments in Zimbabwe following the disputed elections.
“We are concerned about the arrest of observers, reports of voter intimidation, threats of violence, harassment and coercion,” Ms Nino-Martinez said in a statement.
The Secretary-General called on political leaders and their supporters to reject all forms of violence, threats of violence or incitement to violence, and to ensure that human rights and the rule of law are fully respected.
Zimbabwe went to the polls on Wednesday but after the ZEC failed to provide ballots to voters in the capital Harare and in Bulawayo, Mnangagwa had to extend voting by additional day
The United Nations through the Secretary-General have emphasized on political actors to resolve any disputes peacefully through established legal and institutional channels and urges the relevant authorities to resolve any disputes in a fair, expeditious and transparent manner to ensure that the results truly reflect the will of the people.”
Zimbabwe has a long history of disputed elections dating back to the Mugabe era, where fraud and rigging were used to manipulate polls.