Zimbabwe’s ruling party has won a majority of seats in Parliament, the electoral commission announced Wednesday, as the country braced for the first official results of the presidential election.
The ruling ZANU-PF won 109 seats while the main opposition MDC party had 41 in the country’s 210-seat House of Assembly. The commission said two seats were won by smaller parties and 58 seats had yet to be declared.
The commission said it would announce the results of Zimbabwe’s presidential race, pitting President Emmerson Mnangagwa against opposition leader Nelson Chamisa, only after all the votes have come in from across the country.
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| Activists from Zimbabwe's ruling party Zimbabwe African National Union Patriotic Front (ZANU PF) Youth League rally ahead of the July 30 general elections in Zimbabwe. Jekesai Nijikizana—AFP/Getty Images |
The opposition alleges the elections have irregularities, saying voting results were not posted outside one-fifth of polling stations as required by law.
Mnangagwa’s government, meanwhile, accused Chamisa and his supporters of inciting “violence” by already declaring he had won the election, the first after former leader Robert Mugabe stepped down in November.
“Let me also warn such individuals and groups that no one is above the law,” Home Affairs Minister Obert Mpofu said. Security forces “will remain on high alert and continue to monitor the security situation in the country.”
The possibility of confrontation is an unnerving reminder of the tensions that pervade this southern African nation, debilitated by Mugabe’s long rule. The 94-year-old former leader had been in power since independence from white minority rule in 1980 until he was forced to resign after the military and ruling ZANU-PF party turned on him. Zimbabwe's Ruling ZANU-PF Party Has Won Parliamentary Majority.