BULAWAYO – President Emmerson Mnangagwa tried to reassure his base on Tuesday after the opposition claimed it had won Monday’s general elections.
With official results in the presidential race not expected until at least Wednesday, the main rivals are using data from their polling agents to predict the final result.
MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa, about eight hours after voting had ended, said his party was on course for a “resounding win” and was “ready to form the next government.
The Alliance says it used a combination of exit polls and raw data from its agents for making the call.
But Mnangagwa’s official Twitter account claimed news from Zanu PF agents was “extremely positive” for his prospects.
“I am delighted by the high turnout and citizen engagement so far. The information from our reps on the ground is extremely positive! Waiting patiently for official results as per the constitution,” he said on Twitter.
Several Zanu PF activists were claiming their leader would win by between 53 and 59 percent – enough to be declared winner outright without the need to go for a runoff.
The MDC Alliance has called a press conference for Tuesday afternoon.
Earlier, one of the Alliance’s top officials Tendai Biti left the possibility open for mass demonstrations to bring down Mnangagwa if he went on to claim victory.
“We will not accept any result that shows nothing other than a people’s victory,” Biti said. “If they cheat us, they will have to kill us on the streets. We have got a right to demonstrate. We will exercise our constitutional right to peacefully demonstrate and petition. We are democrats, peace loving people and we just saying to Zanu PF and all the headmasters of chaos don’t provoke the people of Zimbabwe because the people have made their choice – they want change, transformation, peace, stability, hope, jobs, clean water for their family, they want a roof over their head and it’s not a lot to ask for.”
ZEC chairperson, Priscilla Chigumba, has advised Zimbabweans to wait for official results as it was too early to tell of a conclusive outcome.
“We are also warning political parties and individuals to desist from announcing results prematurely because that violates Section 66A of the Electoral Act,” she said.
Commenting on Zimbabwe’s national election and its possible outcome to the SABC, an African
analyst, Izak Khomo, noted that the race between Chamisa and Mnangangwa was tight and mainstream media had failed to provide a full picture of their support base.
“You see in Zimbabwe there are two constituencies, the rural and the urban setup. But one does not have a sense of who commands what. Demographically, the rural constituency is bigger and mostly support for Chamisa comes from the urban setting where he is popular. We see this from visuals and footage from television. But we don’t know much support he has from the rural constituency. Of course, he does have support there but how deep is that support?” he posed.
Khomo pointed out that a proper analysis had to be done because there were electorate dynamics that had to be understood.
“People should understand that this year the Zimbabwean tobacco crop hit a record. The country reaped over 200 million kilogrammes, beating all records even those set by the old tobacco settler system. Local farmers actually surpassed that and the majority people who have produced the tobacco are the small growers.
“These people are actually receiving money into their pockets and if you listen to them they are very happy about what has happened regarding tobacco despite there being intermittent drought in the country. So those people are quite satisfied with the setup and I don’t see them actually casting out Zanu PF for Chamisa over issues of the economy,” he suggested.
Khomo said these polls were important as they were expected to usher in a credible and legitimate government. Mnangagwa came to power after deposing former President Mugabe in a military coup last November.
“The country needs stability and peace. The only way to have stability, legitimacy and peace is a government which is acceptable to the people, for the people by the people,” he said.
