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HARARE, Zimbabwe – A large number of Zimbabweans have run for the first elections since the fall of longtime leader Robert Mugabe, in a largely peaceful poll, although marked by problems in the capital, Harare, announced Tuesday. observers.
In a preliminary assessment released a day after the vote, the Zimbabwe Election Support Network reported that counting at polling stations was going well. But he reported that some voters were denied in 6% of the country's polling stations and 19% in Harare, an opposition stronghold.
There were also "incidents of intimidation, harassment or violence". According to the network, a Zimbabwean private organization deployed 6,500 observers across the country.
Andrew Makoni, the president of the network, said that it was too early to say whether the problems resulted from logistical problems or fraud.
"We are gathering all these reports to really be able to assess the nature of the irregularities," he said.
In the run for the presidency, the ruling party's candidate, President Emmerson Mnangagwa, and his main rival, Nelson Chamisa, expressed confidence in Tuesday's victory, although no voting decision was made. 39, was made public. Election officials said the contest results would be announced on Saturday, or within five days of the vote, as required by law; if no one wins more than 50% of the votes, a second round will take place at the beginning of September.
The race for the presidency was deemed too close. 75-year-old Mnangagwa, who took power from Mugabe and is a candidate for the ruling ZANU-PF party, hopes that a victory in free and fair elections will bring him personal legitimacy and economic support. Zimbabwe. West
. The main opposition candidate, Mr. Chamisa, 40, has surpassed the rivals to win the leadership of the Alliance for the Movement for Democratic Change after the death this year of his long leader date, Morgan Tsvangirai, who ran twice against Mugabe. A clever speaker, Mr. Chamisa, who is also a pastor, has been encouraging supporters at many rallies across Zimbabwe in recent months.
Chamisa made statements questioning the integrity of the electoral process. A few days before the vote, he said that a victory for Mr. Mnangagwa would be a "fiction" – despite the fact that a poll conducted by Afrobarometer, a nonpartisan research organization, said the report said. had slightly exceeded Mnangagwa
. a tweet Monday Mr. Chamisa accused election officials of causing delays in abolishing voting in opposition urban strongholds. "The will of the people will be denied and undermined because of these deliberate and unnecessary delays," he writes, without providing evidence.
At a press conference Tuesday, Priscilla Chigumba, president of Zimbabwe's Electoral Commission, denied deliberately causing delays. Despite the tweet of Mr. Chamisa, she also said that the commission had received no complaints of fraud from any candidate
Election officials were ready to announce results in some local races Tuesday night
. the United States was supposed to publish its election assessments on Wednesday.
On Monday, international observers said the vote appeared to be peaceful at the national level. But they also said that many polling stations had reported that voters had failed to vote, some because their names had not been registered and others because the process took hours.
The refusal of election officials to send voters roles at the entrance of polling stations, at the request of the opposition and observers, seemed to have exacerbated these problems.
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