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Long queues as Zimbabwe votes in first post-Mugabe election

Monday July 30 2018
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A Zimbabwean Police Officer controls the access to a polling station while people queue early in the morning outside a polling station located in the suburb of Mbare in Zimbabwe's capital Harare, on July 30, 2018 to vote during general elections. AFP PHOTO | LUIS TATO

By AFP

Zimbabweans lined up Monday to vote in the country's first election since Robert Mugabe was ousted, with the opposition vowing to defy alleged ballot fraud and deliver an electoral upset.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa, Mugabe's former right-hand man in the ruling Zanu-PF party, faces opposition leader Nelson Chamisa of the MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) in a historic vote for the southern African nation.

Officials overseeing the polls, in which a record number of candidates are standing, said early signs including long queues at some polling stations suggested a high turnout nationwide.

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People queue early morning on July 30, 2018 at a polling station in the Harare suburb of Chitungwiza during Zimbabwe's 2018 general elections to elect the president and members of Parliament. AFP PHOTO | ALEX MCBRIDE


"I just have to do this. I have to see a better Zimbabwe for my kids. Things have been tough," Tawanda Petru, 28, an unemployed man voting in Mbare, a low-income district of the capital Harare, told AFP.

"I'm going to vote for Chamisa, for change. I am not afraid."

Mugabe, 94, who was ousted by the military in November, voted at his customary polling station in Harare alongside his wife Grace after a surprise two-hour press conference at his home on Sunday during which he called for voters to reject Zanu-PF.

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Mugabe, wearing a dark suit and red tie, was greeted with cheers at the polling station but did not answer journalists' questions about who he voted for.

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Former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe (centre) is watched by his daughter Bona (left) and wife Grace as he casts his vote at a polling station located in a primary school in the Highfield district of Harare during the country's general elections on July 30, 2018. AFP PHOTO | ZINYANGE AUNTONY

Mnangagwa, voting in his Kwekwe constituency in central Zimbabwe, said Mugabe had the right to express himself in the country's new "democratic space".

"I am very happy that the process for campaigning was peaceful (and) voting today is peaceful," he added.

'An emphatic voice for change'?

Mnangagwa, 75, has has promised change and is the clear front-runner benefitting from tacit military support, loyal state media and ruling party controls of government resources.

The party controls the lower house of parliament, which is also up for election.

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Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa casts his ballot at Sherwood Primary School in Kwekwe on July 30 2018, during general elections. AFP PHOTO | JEKESAI NJIKIZANA

But Chamisa, a 40-year-old lawyer and pastor who has performed strongly on the campaign trail, hopes to tap into the youth vote.

"By the end of the day today we should be very clear as to an emphatic voice for change, the new, and the young — I represent that," Chamisa said as he voted in Harare, supported by vocal supporters.

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Zimbabwe opposition leader Nelson Chamisa casts his ballot in a polling station during general elections in Harare, on July 30, 2018. AFP PHOTO | ZINYANGE AUNTONY

He again raised fraud allegations saying his victory would be assured if rigged ballots were excluded.

On Twitter, he alleged there was a "deliberate attempt to suppress" voting in urban areas — MDC strongholds.

Zimbabwe's generals shocked the world last year when they seized control and ushered in Mnangagwa after Mugabe allegedly groomed Grace succeed him.

The election is Zimbabwe's first without Mugabe, who led Zanu-PF to power on independence from Britain in 1980 and clung to power for 37 years.

Elections under Mugabe were marred by fraud and often deadly violence but campaigning has been relatively unrestricted and peaceful.

A recent Afrobarometer survey of 2,400 people put Mnangagwa on 40 percent and Chamisa on 37 percent, with 20 percent undecided.

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An elections officer applies indelible ink to a voter finger during early morning voting in Kwekwe as Zimbabwe conducts a general election on July 30, 2018. AFP PHOTO | JEKESAI NJIKIZANA

Mnangagwa invited international observers — including the previously-banned European Union mission — to witness voting.

'We cannot trust the inexperienced'

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights warned of intimidation and threats of violence in the run-up to polling day, but said it was encouraged to see open rallies and peaceful demonstrations.

The new government will face mass unemployment and an economy shattered by the seizure of white-owned farms under Mugabe, the collapse of agriculture, hyperinflation and an investment exodus.

Previously solid health and education services are in ruins and millions have fled abroad.

Life expectancy has only recently recovered to its 1985 level of 61 years.

"While investors remain sceptical over whether Mugabe's former right-hand man has indeed turned over a new leaf, Mnangagwa's charm offensive with Western governments and businesses has at least given him a credible lifeline at the poll," said Verisk Maplecrodt analyst Charles Laurie in a note.

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Voters queue at a polling station set in an open field in the popular Mbare district of Harare, on July 30, 2018 ahead of the Zimbabwe General Elections. AFP PHOTO | MARCO LONGARI

With 5.6 million registered voters, the results of the presidential, parliamentary and local elections are due by August 4.

"I voted for Mnangagwa. We cannot trust the inexperienced. They will take the country back to our colonisers," said Robina Mayobiongwe, 80, in Lupane in rural western Zimbabwe.

A run-off vote is scheduled for September 8 if no presidential candidate wins at least 50 percent.

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