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Tension, Celebrations - But No Results - Day After Zimbabwe Election

by Anita Powell

   HARARE --

   Celebrations erupted on the streets of Zimbabwe's capital Harare
   Tuesday as opposition supporters marked what they said was a certain
   victory in Monday's pivotal poll, the first in 38 years without
   long-time leader Robert Mugabe on the ballot. But official results have
   yet to be announced, and observers and the electoral commission have
   raised concerns about aspects of the campaign.

   The poll was effectively a race between President Emmerson Mnangagwa
   and opposition challenger Nelson Chamisa.

   However, the celebration was tinged with menace: a VOA reporter spotted
   five water cannon trucks, each loaded with police, making their way
   through central Harare, just a block away from the celebrations.
   "We won't be intimidated," said opposition supporter Andrew Anthony,
   32.

   Although results had not been announced as of Tuesday evening, the two
   main rivals have already aired their views on social media after
   Monday's poll. Chamisa tweeted Tuesday morning that his party was
   "winning resoundingly," based on results they had collected from most
   of the more than 10,000 polling stations. Official results are expected
   by August 4.
   "We have now received from our agencies across the country results of
   the 2018 election, the results show beyond reasonable doubt that we
   have won the election and that the next president of Zimbabwe is
   advocate Nelson Chamisa," said party official Tendai Biti.

   Also on Tuesday, President Mnangagwa called for caution on Twitter,
   urging Zimbabweans to "exercise responsibility and restraint by
   patiently waiting for ZEC to declare the official outcome." But, he
   noted, "the information from our reps on the ground is extremely
   positive!"

   All this talk, the largest local observer mission said, is worrying.
   The Zimbabwe Election Support Network, on Tuesday, praised the poll for
   being smooth and peaceful, but said such political sniping and
   rule-breaking could tarnish the poll. On Monday, the Zimbabwe Electoral
   Commission said it had reported two presidential candidates to police
   for campaigning outside of the allowed window, but the commission
   declined to name them.

   "One of the main issues, which really is of concern to us, is the issue
   of hate speech in the period leading to elections. It's something which
   the political players across the political divide must work on," said
   network chairman Andrew Makoni. "'¦Again you saw that when ZEC
   indicated that campaigning was going by 12 midnight on Saturday, we saw
   campaigning continue on social media, we saw pressers being held, we
   also saw the president of ZANU-PF also appearing to continue with his
   campaign on Facebook which was also broadcast, I understand, on ZBC. So
   those issues are of concern to us. If we want to make our election
   management board look credible, we also must respect, in some way,
   their pronouncements."

   Lawrence Mhandara, a political science lecturer at the University of
   Zimbabwe, says this is a delicate moment for the nation, but said that
   the people showed maturity and a desire for calm. If anything happens,
   he says, the population won't be to blame.