Zimbabwe: Mnangagwa Re-elected President

Emmerson Mnangagwa is re-elected President of Zimbabwe. The election results were released by the election commission over the weekend after voters went to the polls last week and gave the winner 52.6% of the vote to 44% for challenger Nelson Chamise.

Mnangagwa will remain in power for the second term: he came to power in 2017 after the coup that overthrew Robert Mugabe who headed the country for 37 years. In particular, Mnangagwa served as vice president under Mugabe and was his successor at the head of the ZANU-PF party (Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front). This political formation headed the South African country for more than 40 years.

The opposition questioned the election results, explaining that the election campaign was clearly biased in favor of ZANU-PF. The opposition party CCC (Citizens Coalition for Change) claimed that the elections were not held freely and refused to accept the results. Chamisa, on his X (formerly Twitter) account, proclaimed a “blatant and gigantic scam.”

Massimo Castaldo, chief observer for the European Union Election Observation Mission in Zimbabwe (EU EOM) said, “Unfortunately, in many significant and fundamental aspects, these elections fell short of regional and international legal standards.”