Zimbabweans stream to polling booths in vote since Mugabe’s fall

Bloomberg

Zimbabweans streamed to polling stations to vote in the first election since the end of Robert Mugabe’s fractious 37-year-rule.
A credible vote would help provide the southern African nation with a foundation to begin rebuilding its battered international reputation and an economy largely laid to ruin during the latter half of Mugabe’s reign. While the campaign has been mostly peaceful, the success of the election will be determined by whether rival parties accept the result, with the main opposition already having complained the odds are stacked against it.
“This country needs a new start,” geologist Senzeni Ndlovu said after voting in the southern city of Bulawayo. “The leadership must get to work. The country suffered a lot under the previous administration.”
Voters formed long queues outside polling stations in the capital, Harare, home to about a third of the country’s estimated 13 million people, and other centres, some waiting more than four hours to cast their ballots. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said 90 percent of locations opened within an hour of the official start to voting at 7 am, and it expected all ballots to be cast by 7 pm.
“So far the process has gone on very well,” Qhubani Moyo, a ZEC commissioner, said. “There has been very high turnout across the country. There are few incidents of queues not moving very fast.”
The ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front’s presidential candidate is Emmerson Mnangagwa, Mugabe’s one-time deputy and successor. The MDC’s campaign has made headway over the past two months, tightening the race “significantly,” and if the trend continued victory could go either way, opinion polls conducted by research company Afrobarometer show.
“The governing Zanu-PF party needs to maintain a semblance of free and fair elections in order to attract fresh foreign investment and conclude a debt-relief deal with development finance institutions and other creditors,” said Robert Besseling, executive director of political risk advisory firm EXX Africa.
“However, there remain serious concerns over vote credibility.”
The 10,985 polling stations were scheduled to close at 6 pm, although those waiting in line should be allowed to cast ballots. Under Zimbabwean law, the results must be announced by August 4. More than 5.6 million people registered to vote for the president, 350 lawmakers and local government representatives.
Besides Mnangagwa and Chamisa, the presidency is being contested by 20 other candidates, after one dropped out late, and a runoff election will be held on September 8 if no one wins more than half the vote.
Mugabe was declared the winner of every election in Zimbabwe during his time in office. The MDC alleges that all votes since 2000 were marred by violence and irregularities. His rule ended in November, when the ruling party forced him to resign after the military briefly seized control of the country.

Ex-president Mugabe bats for opposition in election
Bloomberg

Former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said he’ll back the main opposition in Monday’s elections, which come eight months after the military briefly seized control and the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front forced him to quit after 37 years in office.
“I cannot vote for Zanu-PF,” the 94-year-old Mugabe said at a press conference held in Borrowdale, one of the wealthiest suburbs in Harare, the capital. “I must say very clearly, I can’t vote for those who have tormented me, I can’t.”
Mugabe was replaced by his one-time deputy and spy chief Emmerson Mnanagagwa, 75, one of 22 candidates in the presidential race. His only serious challenger is Nelson Chamisa, a 40-year-old lawyer who heads the Movement for Democratic Change. Mugabe said that while he’d never met Chamisa, the MDC represented the only realistic alternative to the ruling party.