Zimbabwe awaits election results as observers decry arrest of poll monitors

Results from Zimbabwe's elections were still coming in on Friday, after delays forced a second day of voting in a number of neighbourhoods. Meanwhile civil society activists denounced the arrest of more than 40 people working as election observers.

Voters queue outside a polling station during Zimbabwe's presidential and legislative elections in Harare, on 23 August 2023. © AFP / JOHN WESSELS

Zimbabweans started voting for the president, parliament and local councils on Wednesday, its second general election since longtime ruler Robert Mugabe was ousted in a coup in 2017. 

Early parliamentary results showed the ruling Zanu-PF party, in power for 43 years so far, neck and neck with the main opposition on Friday.

But fewer than half of constituencies had announced their count by Friday morning, and no results were available for the presidential poll.

Voting was extended on Thursday in 40 out of more than 12,000 wards.

• Zimbabwe vote spills into second day as opposition alleges rigging

The electoral commission said the cause was late printing of ballot papers after court challenges, but gave no further details.

The president's office wrote on social media on Friday morning that the voting period had "concluded". 

Results in the presidential race are not expected for another day or two, within a five-day deadline.

A voter casts her ballot at a polling station during the presidential and legislative elections in Harare, on 24 August 2023. AFP - JOHN WESSELS

Observers arrested

Dozens of armed police with water cannons and tear gas were guarding the national election results centre on Friday, the Associated Press reported.

On Thursday, police said they had detained 41 people and seized mobile phones, laptops and other electronic equipment during raids on four locations in Harare, following a tip-off about "subversive and criminal activities".

"The equipment was being used to unlawfully tabulate election voting statistics and results from polling stations throughout the country," police spokesman Paul Nyathi said in a statement.

Assistant Commissioner Paul Nyathi of @PoliceZimbabwe talks about the Police raids that they carried out last night and recovered items which were being used to coordinate the efforts to illegally publish Election Results. Some of those involved have been arrested. pic.twitter.com/jbXRGBgwbn

— Nick Mangwana (@nickmangwana) August 24, 2023

The police named some of the organisations targeted as the Zimbabwe Election Support Network, Election Resource Centre and Team Pachedu.

They are all well-known civil society groups that had said they were monitoring the vote in the interests of democracy.

The arrests were criticised by the group Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, which said the workers were carrying out their mandate as accredited election observers.

The United States also accused Zimbabwe's authorities of undermining their election by arresting poll monitors and demanded their release.

"The police raid on civil society conducting legitimate election observation demonstrates the government of Zimbabwe’s lack of respect for free and fair elections," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller tweeted.

The police raid on civil society conducting legitimate election observation demonstrates the Government of Zimbabwe’s lack of respect for free and fair elections. Dismayed at the lengths they will go to undermine their own election’s credibility. https://t.co/6pv26Va2JX

— Matthew Miller (@StateDeptSpox) August 25, 2023

'The playing field is tilted'

Zimbabwe's president, Zanu-PF's Emmerson Mnangagwa, 80, is seeking a second full term.

He took over from Mugabe after the 2017 coup and won a disputed election in 2018.

His main challenger, Nelson Chamisa, 45, of the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), ran against him in that vote too.

This year's elections come after decades of runaway inflation, steep currency depreciation and soaring unemployment.

• What's at stake in Zimbabwe's elections?

Despite widespread dissatisfaction with the government, analysts say the electoral process is heavily skewed in favour of Zanu-PF, which has a long history of using state institutions to manipulate elections in its favour.

"They used the judiciary and the electoral commission to their advantage, they banned some opposition rallies, they intimidated dissident voices, and they had prominent features in national media. So the playing field is tilted in favour of Zanu-PF,"  Crisis Group expert Nicolas Delaunay told RFI before the polls opened.

Foreign lenders and donors have said a free and fair election was a precondition for any talks to help Zimbabwe resolve its debt crisis and access international loans.

(with newswires)