MAJOR contenders in Wednesday’s general elections, President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Nelson Chamisa were locked in a tight race, in an election marked by logistical gridlocks.
This week’s polls spilled into second day voting after thousands of Zimbabweans woke up to some polling stations without ballot papers.
Authorities blamed the chaos on multiple legal challenges against the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) that flooded the courts ahead of the polls, leading to delays in ballot paper printing.
Some polling stations did not have ballot papers until yesterday morning, more than 24 hours after polling opened.
Voting was supposed to commence at 7am on Wednesday and close at 7pm. However, opposition parties condemned the chaos and accused Zanu PF of using its power of incumbency and state resources to manipulate the electoral process to gain another mandate.
Zanu PF politburo member Patrick Chinamasa said last night that the party was headed towards victory.
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“As you may be aware, Zanu PF had three polling agents at each polling station of the total 12 000 or so polling stations,” he said.
“These polling agents have been sending to our command centres V11 results. Now we have these results and I want to say that on the basis of what we have, we are on full target of our projections, with our predictions to achieve a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly. Already we are there!”
He added: “We are also on target to achieve our target of 60% to 65% for our president in this election, that is what we set out.”
Indications are that Chamisa’s Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) retained seats in its traditional urban strongholds, while Zanu PF maintained its dominance in the rural areas.
Highly-placed sources say Zanu PF was likely to garner a two-thirds majority in the National Assembly.
According to results announced last night, Zanu PF won the Chiredzi West, Muzvezve, Matobo, Bikita South, Chiredzi North, Chiredzi Central, Chiredzi East, Gwanda Tshitaudze, Magunje, Epworth South and Gokwe Central parliamentary constituencies.
CCC won Makoni Central, Chegutu West, Sunningdale, Chitungwiza South, Bulawayo North, Gweru Urban, Chinhoyi, Kwekwe Central and St Mary’s seats in the National Assembly.
Indications from Mashonaland West are that Zanu PF might have lost the Kariba, Zvimba East, Norton, Chegutu West and Kadoma Central constituencies to CCC and won all Mashonaland Central National Assembly seats.
However, the Zanu PF sources said the turnout was lower-than-anticipated in some rural constituencies, while CCC said there was massive turnout in the urban constituencies.
Indications are that Mnangagwa was leading last night, but with a small margin.
Both Zanu PF and CCC are claiming victory in the tightly contested poll, whose presidential results are yet to be announced.
“Yesterday and this afternoon, we were very worried about the results. There was notable voter apathy in Zanu PF strongholds, where the turnout ranged between 50% and 60% in some constituencies. This is lower than the usual turn out which has always been above 65%,” a top Zanu PF official said. “Infighting in the party and the outcome of the primary elections could have contributed to the voter apathy.
“People were angry about the Forever Associates of Zimbabwe (Faz) meddling in the primary elections, which saw supporters of losing candidates not voting on Wednesday. But we are happy now with indications that the results could mirror the 2018 presidential election results.”
CCC has said it is confident of victory in the presidential election.
CCC spokesperson Promise Mkwananzi said yesterday: “President Nelson Chamisa is well and fine, ready and geared to form a government for everyone, an all-inclusive government, which will benefit all citizens in the country.
“As a movement, we are currently seized with monitoring the electoral process. The information we have is that we are leading on the presidential election comfortably and we are doing well on the parliamentary elections.
“We expect this trend to continue because the people of Zimbabwe have decided that they want change and the expression of that desire for change is going to come through the victory of Citizens Coalition for Change.”
Voters cast their ballots in Chimanimani yesterday after the ballot papers were delivered by helicopters in the morning.
Zimbabweans are keenly watching developments on the presidential race, where Mnangagwa locked horns with Chamisa for the second time in five years, after beating him by a slender margin in the 2018 poll.
According to Zanu PF sources, Mnangagwa’s Zanu PF party posted major victories in rural strongholds of Mashonaland Central, Mashonaland East, Mashonaland West, Masvingo and Midlands
Chamisa came out strong in urban areas, such as Harare, Bulawayo and Chitungwiza.
Authoritative sources said Chamisa’s chances were bolstered by the huge turnout in urban areas, where voters were frustrated by Zec’s administrative shortcomings, which saw thousands fail to vote in time across cities.
Zanu PF top brass was reportedly unsettled by CCC’s huge urban turnout, but were confident that they would garner enough votes in rural constituencies for Mnangagwa to win a second term.
The opposition said late opening of polls was a deliberate move to frustrate its supporters into turning away from polling stations.
Civic organisations claimed that at the centre of the delays was the Zanu PF-aligned outfit, Faz.
The Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum outlined a catalogue of logistical challenges and what they referred to as attempts at stealing the vote.
The forum said according to reports from Chipinge, Wedza, Murehwa, Mwenezi, Makoni, Guruve and Chivi, Faz set up “post-election survey desks” outside the designated 300 metres parameter from polling stations where they registered everyone before and after voting.
The forum said it had recorded verified incidents of voters’ names not being found on the voters roll.
“An 86-year-old woman highlighted that she had previously inspected the voters roll at the inspection phase and her name was captured under Christ the King Polling Station,” the report said.
“However, upon her arrival today, she could not find her name. She also failed to get assistance from Zec officials at the polling station. She had no choice but to go back home without voting.”
Addressing journalists after casting his vote at Kuwadzana 2 Primary School on Wednesday, Chamisa said the party was suspicious that the ink that was used in this year’s election was not indelible.
“Zec has failed us. I am disappointed. We are not happy. There has not been voting in our strongholds in the morning,” he said.
“The voters roll was not available on time. These are critical issues and we are going to raise them with Zec. Even the ink that is being used is suspicious, it has not been confirmed if indeed it was indelible.”
After casting his vote in Kwekwe, Mnangagwa said: Everyone who contests should go into the race to win. Peace, peace, peace and fairness, during before and after, peace, peace.”