A guide to Zimbabwe's first post-Robert Mugabe election

JOHANNESBURG – For 37 years, Zimbabwe did not know a leader but Robert Mugabe. On Monday, the South African nation will go to the polls for the first post-Mugabe election, which could determine whether new President Emmerson Mnangagwa is keeping his promises of reforms in the economically shattered country and if the military would serve, or even allow , a winner of the opposition.

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A MILLIONS DIASPORA WITHOUT VOTE

Millions of Zimbabweans working and living outside the country will not be able to vote unless they return home after the rejection of the Constitutional Court in May. an offer from human rights lawyers to amend the electoral law. Many people have fled for decades of economic and political upheaval under Mugabe, although there is no official figure of Zimbabweans in the Diaspora. In the interior of the country, about 5.3 million people registered to vote

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LONG SHADOW OF MUGABE

Last year, Mugabe's wife, Grace, seemed to position herself to succeed her husband with a campaign to defame his deputy. , Mnangagwa. But Mnangagwa's shooting in November provoked a whirlwind of events that saw the army intervene, Mugabe resigned as a result of impeachment proceedings and Mnangagwa took power. Now, Mugabe, 94, and his wife live quietly in the capital, Harare, but the former president remains influential. He supports a political party that supports the main opposition candidate, Nelson Chamisa, and maintains strong support in some rural areas – where some still think Mugabe is president.

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A CREDIBLE ELECTION?

Mnangagwa pledged to vote for the removal of international sanctions imposed years ago after elections tainted with allegations of violence and intimidation. While Mugabe banned western election observers, the new president welcomed them for the first time in 16 years. A record 23 candidates run for president. But the main opposition MDC party and election observers have raised serious concerns. The voters' table is considered flawed and the preparation of the ballots was described as non-transparent. The army, which has declared that it will support any winner of the elections, denied sending thousands of soldiers to rural areas to influence voters in favor of the ruling party, ZANU-PF.

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THE ATTEMPTS OF ASSASSINATION

Concerns about election violence rose after a grenade attack "a few inches" from Mnangagwa at a police station. Last month's campaign rally killed two people while the president came out unscathed. Two people were arrested in what the state media have called an assassination attempt. Mnangagwa dismissed the attack as the last of several attempts in his life and blamed his "normal" enemies. The government later announced that scared candidates would be protected, a first.

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A BLOCKED ECONOMY

Zimbabweans have seen little or no improvement in the economy since Mnangagwa took office. The country is still without its own currency and the lines remain long outside banks in the midst of a serious liquidity crisis. Millions, including college graduates, have become street vendors, while industries look like ashes. Young people make up the majority of the country's voters and are the most affected by the economic crisis. Mnangagwa and Chamisa tried to win their vote thanks to campaigns on social networks and the promise that earned Mnangagwa many applause:, jobs.

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