Zimbabwe votes as ‘the crocodile’ seeks second term as president

The 80-year-old former ally of Robert Mugabe wants another stint at running a country with a history of violent and disputed elections

Voters wait outside polling stations on Wednesday in Harare (AFP via Getty Images)

Delays marked voting in Zimbabwe on Wednesday as Emmerson Mnangagwa seeks a second and final term presidential in a country with a history of violent and disputed elections.

This is the second general election since a 2017 coup that toppled longtime ruler Robert Mugabe.

Twelve presidential candidates are on the ballot, but the main contest is expected to be between 80-year-old Mnangagwa, known as “the crocodile”, and 45-year-old opposition leader Nelson Chamisa. Mnangagwa narrowly beat Chamisa in a disputed election in 2018.

Chamisa hopes to break the ruling ZANU-PF party’s 43-year hold on power. Zimbabwe has had only two leaders since gaining independence from white minority rule in 1980.

Emmerson Mnangagwa, known as ‘the crocodile’ casts his vote (EPA)

A runoff election will be held on 2 October if no candidate wins a clear majority in the first round. The election will also determine the makeup of the 350-seat parliament and nearly 2,000 local council positions.

“It’s becoming tougher to survive in this country,” said Basil Chendambuya, an early voter in a working-class township in Harare. “I am hoping for change. This is my third time to vote and I am praying hard that this time my vote counts. I am getting desperate, so God has to intervene this time round.2

The father of three said his two adult children are working menial jobs and surviving “hand to mouth.”

Zimbabwe has vast mineral resources, including Africa’s largest reserves of lithium, a key component in making electric car batteries. But watchdogs have long alleged that widespread corruption and mismanagement have gutted much of the country’s potential.

A woman looks for her name on a voters list in Zimbabwe on Wednesday (AFP via Getty Images)

European Union chief election observer Fabio Massimo Castaldo said around 30% of polling stations in Harare had significant delays in opening, often linked to the lack of essential materials, “notably, in many cases, paper ballots.”

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission acknowledged the late distribution of ballot papers at some polling stations and blamed it on delays in their printing "arising from numerous court challenges." Governing party activists and the opposition had brought a flurry of cases over who could run in both presidential and parliamentary elections.

Ahead of the election, opposition and human rights groups including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International accused Mnangagwa of seeking to silence dissent amid rising tensions due to a currency crisis, a sharp hike in food prices, a weakening public health system and a lack of formal jobs.

After voting, Mnangagwa expressed confidence he would win. “If I think I am not going to take it, then I will be foolish,” he said. He encouraged people to be peaceful.

Chamisa alleged intimidation in rural areas but said his supporters should be patient and not frustrated. “We are winning this election,” he said. “They know it and that’s why they are panicking.”

Voters wait in Kwekwe, outside Harare, Zimbabwe on Wednesday (REUTERS/)

Mnangagwa was a close ally of Mugabe and served as vice president before a fallout ahead of the 2017 coup. He has sought to portray himself as a reformer, but many accuse him of being even more repressive than the man he helped remove from power.

Zimbabwe has been under United States and EU sanctions for the past two decades over allegations of human rights abuses, charges denied by the governing party. Mnangagwa has in recent years repeated much of Mugabe’s rhetoric against the West, accusing it of seeking to topple his regime.

Ahead of the elections, observers from the EU and the US came under criticism from officials and state-run media for alleged bias against the governing party.

The Carter Center, invited by the government to observe the polls, has said 30 members of its 48-member observer team had not yet been accredited on the eve of the elections and any further delay would “hinder its ability to observe polling, counting, and tabulation in many locations.”

Several local human rights activists, including lawyers and a clergyman viewed as critical of the government, were denied accreditation to observe the vote.

Associated Press