How Zimbabwe's First Election After Mugabe Went Wrong

Zimbabwe’s July 30 elections were meant to be a new beginning for a nation driven to its knees during two decades of misrule by the autocratic Robert Mugabe. President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who took office in November after the military briefly seized power and the ruling party forced Mugabe to quit, had promised a credible vote and invited Western observers who’d been banned from three previous elections to scrutinize proceedings. But by the time Mnangagwa was declared the winner of the presidential vote in the early hours of Aug. 3, the southern African nation’s hopes of a democratic revival lay in tatters. Six people died after the army opened fire in response to unrest that erupted over the results in Harare, the capital. Nelson Chamisa, leader of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change Alliance, rejected the outcome as rigged and several observer groups noted flaws in the electoral process.

Mnangagwa secured 50.8 percent of the presidential vote, a shade more than the majority needed to avoid a runoff, while Chamisa got 44.3 percent, according to Priscilla Chigumba, a judge who chairs the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission. The balance went to the other 20 candidates or were spoiled. The ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front won 144 of the 210 directly elected seats in the National Assembly and Chamisa’s alliance took 64. The National Patriotic Front, another opposition party, and an independent candidate won one each.