Zimbabweans vote for second day in wards hit by delays

HARARE (Reuters) – Zimbabwean voters were called back to their polling stations on Thursday in 40 wards affected by lengthy delays during Wednesday’s election even as vote-counting had already begun elsewhere.

The government of President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his ZANU-PF party, which has been in power for 43 years, are under pressure to deliver a credible election from foreign lenders and donors who have long shunned Zimbabwe due to its record of economic mismanagement, poor human rights and electoral fraud.

Mnangagwa, 80, took over from longtime strongman Robert Mugabe when he was ousted in a military coup in 2017. Mnangagwa won a disputed election in 2018 and is seeking a second full term.

His re-election bid comes against a backdrop of economic misery, with inflation in triple digits, a currency that has lost 85% of its value just this year and a joblessness crisis, leaving many Zimbabweans dependent on U.S. dollar remittances from their relatives in the diaspora.

Mnangagwa’s main challenger is the same as in the previous election: lawyer and pastor Nelson Chamisa, 45, of the Citizens Coalition for Change, who says he will resist any attempts by ZANU-PF to manipulate the election to stay in power.

Mnangagwa issued a decree late on Wednesday directing that voting should resume on Thursday in 40 wards after a significant number of polling stations in Harare and Bulawayo opened hours late, forcing voters to wait all day or give up.

The presidential notice listed 40 wards it said were affected by the delays. Although the named areas make up less than 1% of the country’s 12,374 wards, they include 11 wards in Harare, which has the highest number of registered voters.

According to the notice, the affected wards are in three of Zimbabwe’s 10 provinces – opposition stronghold Harare, Mashonaland Central, where the ruling party is traditionally dominant, and Manicaland, a battleground.

In some other areas, such as the low-income suburb of Mbare on the outskirts of the capital, vote-counting had already begun by lamplight on Wednesday evening.

Parliamentary results had been expected to trickle in on Thursday with the presidential result coming later, though well before a five-day deadline. The electoral commission did not say whether that schedule would be affected by the extended voting.

Independent analysts say the electoral playing field is heavily skewed in favour of ZANU-PF, which has a long history of using state institutions to manipulate the process to its advantage. ZANU-PF and the electoral commission have said the election would be clean.

(Writing by Estelle Shirbon, Editing by Angus MacSwan)