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Tensions rise in Zimbabwe as opposition fears intensify over the fact that the vote will be rigged, observers warned of possible violence if the results are challenged and the authorities are mobilizing for the protests
since the army removed Robert Mugabe from power last year. The long lines of voters trained outside the polling stations and the turnout were recorded at 75%.
The opposition leader, Nelson Chamisa, said Tuesday that he "was making a resounding win." . His supporters rallied at their party headquarters in the capital in the afternoon, celebrating the victory despite the lack of official results.
Supporters danced on trucks in a truck on the street in front of the offices of the Movement for Democratic Change. Samson Muneptsi, a 35-year-old technician and volunteer voting officer for the MDC, said, "We won easily and totally, we are waiting for the announcement.
" We will not accept never lose this election. We will protect our votes. We will protest.
Police vehicles equipped with water cannons passed in front of the crowd.
The election opposes Chamisa, 40, a lawyer and pastor whose only previous experience of power was a ministerial position in a coalition government. years ago, against Emmerson Mnangagwa, 75, a longtime Mugabe aide and leader of the ruling Zanu-PF party.
Chamisa said in a 5h tweet that the MDC had "done extremely well", according to the results of the majority of polling stations. There was no confirmation of his claim.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission began announcing results in the afternoon, but only from seven parliamentary constituencies. Six were won by the ruling party, one by the MDC.
Voters also elected legislators and local representatives. The final result of the presidential election is expected for August 4, but waited earlier.
Andrew Makoni of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), a coalition of civil society groups that has deployed 6,500 election observers, said that people will be upset to the point where they go to the streets, and then we are worried about the reaction of the security forces in the country. "
Officials are legally bound to publish the results of each of the 10,985 polling stations, which are gathered by several civil society groups, although they are not allowed to publish the complete results until official count is known
Makoni said the ZESN was working to confirm reports from activists in the field that up to a fifth of the polling stations had not released any results. Mnangagwa tweeted on Tuesday morning that he was "delighted with the high rate of participation and engagement of citizens up to now", adding: "The information of"
Supporters said the president had won "a landslide victory."
"The MDC is only very bad losers," said Bright Matonga, a businessman and former Minister of the ruling party. "They can protest but they will have to follow the law. It must be peaceful. I am confident that the security forces will keep them under control. "
The two presidential candidates represent radically different ideologies and political styles, as well as generations." Pre-election opinion polls gave Mnangagwa, a former spying chief known as " Crocodile "for its reputation as a ruthless ruse, a slight lead over Chamisa, a brilliant or even capricious speaker
the deepest rural areas, especially the center of Mashonaland, where live more than two-thirds of the 17 million Residents of Zimbabwe.
Chamisa's statements of an impending victory are consistent with a multi-week strategy that sought to put Zanu-PF on the defensive and make rigging of votes more difficult
MDC officials accuse ZEC of deliberate delay
If no candidate wins more than half of the votes, there will be a second round in five weeks. In 2008, dozens of people were killed before a second round between Mugabe and MDC founder Morgan Tsvangirai, who died of cancer in February
Another possibility is the negotiation to form a government of coalition
of systematic violence that stained previous polls, the MDC repeatedly asserted that it was hampered by a defective voters list, irregularities in ballots, intimidation of voters and remittances to the voters of the ruling party.
The party has repeatedly accused the electoral commission of bias and many of its allegations have been supported by independent analysts and experts.
Zimbabwe's leaders know that a fraudulent election would prevent the country's reintegration into the international community and deny it
Mugabe's almost four decades of government left Zimbabwe with a broken economy, an explosion of unemployment and a ruined infrastructure.
For the first time since Zimbabwe's independence in 1980 after a brutal guerrilla war against a white supremacist regime, Mugabe was not on the ballot. On Sunday, the former president said he would not vote for his former party, Zanu-PF, or the current president, and approved Chamisa.
David Moore of the University of Johannesburg said that he doubted that there would be significant violence when the official result "
" There is some truth in the cliché that Zimbabweans are a peace-loving people. The polls showed the desire for a coalition or some kind of settlement that would help the economy. I do not think there is an appetite for a battle on the streets, "Moore said.
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