Zimbabwe’s president Emmerson Mnangagwa has been re-elected as leader of the troubled southern African nation after a vote that international observers said was marred by irregularities.Mnangagwa won more than 52 per cent of the vote in elections held on Wednesday and Thursday to secure a second term, versus 44 per cent for Nelson Chamisa of the main opposition Citizens Coalition for Change, Zimbabwe’s election commission said on Saturday night.
The credibility of the second election held in Zimbabwe since the fall of Robert Mugabe, the late dictator, was a key test of whether Mnangagwa’s Zanu-PF would be able to access international financing to clear debts and revive an economy wrecked by currency collapse.
The poll was undermined by the election commission’s failure to deliver ballots to opposition strongholds, which forced voting to be extended to a second day, and by government attacks on local and international observers who pointed to signs of rigging and intimidation.