Zimbabwe’s Opposition leader forcefully rejected the election win of President Emmerson Mnangagwa as fraudulent, a vote “stolen from the people.”
Zimbabwe’s closely-watched elections began with Monday’s peaceful vote but turned deadly 48 hours later when the military fired on protesters and six people were killed.
Friday morning three truckloads of police, with shields and batons, tried to disperse about 100 local and international press gathered to hear Chamisa. With cameras recording their every move, the police eventually pulled back, allowing Chamisa to give a blistering denunciation of Mnangagwa’s win.
“We won this election,” asserted Chamisa, who said that rigging gave Mnangagwa victory. He declared “a day of mourning ... for democracy.” Chamisa, who received over 44 percent of the vote, alleged violence and harassment against his supporters and manipulation of the election results. He said his opposition party has evidence of vote-rigging but that the electoral commission “didn’t want to listen to us.”
There was a subdued reaction to Mnangagwa’s win, marked by the apprehension that remained in Harare after the army rolled in with tanks on Wednesday to disperse rock-throwing demonstrators who denounced Mnangagwa and alleged vote-rigging in the country’s first vote after the fall of longtime leader Robert Mugabe.