Zimbabweans on Wednesday voted in closely-watched presidential and legislative elections after a campaign tainted by a crackdown on the opposition, fears of vote rigging and public anger at the economic crisis.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa, 80, who came to power after a coup that deposed late ruler Robert Mugabe in 2017 is seeking re-election.
His main challenger is Nelson Chamisa, 45, who leads the yellow-coloured Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) party.
Casting his ballot in his hometown of Kwekwe, central Zimbabwe, a confident Mnangagwa told journalists: “If I think I’m not going to take it, then I will be foolish.”
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“Everyone who contests should go into the race to win”, he added, sporting his trademark multicoloured scarf.
The opposition is hoping to ride a wave of discontent over the southern African country’s economic woes that include high inflation, unemployment and widespread poverty.
In Harare’s oldest suburb Mbare, voters queued early in the morning outside more than a dozen large green tents set up as polling stations on a dusty field facing rundown apartment blocks and empty wooden market stands.
Before electors cast their ballot, electoral officials marked their fingernail with an indelible black marker to fend off double voters.
“It’s important for me to vote,” said Diana Office, in her thirties. Asked if she was hopeful things would improve after the elections, she laughed, resting her head on the back of a friend queueing in front of her.
“No,” she said. “I’m just here to exercise my right only.”
Talk of change or a better tomorrow are often associated with support for Chamisa, the opposition leader, who few would openly say they support.
But the odds are stacked against the opposition.
Chamisa, a lawyer and pastor has promised a new Zimbabwe “for everyone” and pledged to tackle corruption, relaunch the economy and pull the country out of international isolation.
Rigging fears
Yet, in a nation with a history of tainted elections, few believe he will emerge the outright winner.
His party has complained about being unfairly targeted by authorities, its members have been arrested, dozens of its events blocked and little or no air time has been allotted to it on national television.
But the deputy chairman of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), Rodney Kiwa, dismissed concerns about irregularities in the voters’ roll as “the product of creative imagination”.
Chamisa is used to dispute elections.
He narrowly lost to Mnangagwa in 2018, in a poll he condemned as fraudulent. It was tainted by a deadly crackdown on post-election protests.
Government spokesman Nick Mangwana said authorities had confidence in the electoral process and believed things would go peacefully.
“I just wish every Zimbabwean would accept the choice of the Zimbabwean people,” he told AFP.
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