Emmerson Mnangagwa wins Zimbabwe Election

The historic elections in Zimbabwe officially finished in the early hours of Friday morning with Emmerson Mnangagwa, the ally turned enemy of Robert Mugabe, declared the winner by a narrow margin.

But the outcome leaves an already fractured country with bitter divisions and an uncertain future with the fallout from the bitterly disputed polls due to continue.

The opposition immediately refuted the result and warned of widespread protests, raising fears of further violence after troops shot six people dead and injured more than 30 in clashes with protesters on Wednesday.

Mr Mnangagwa passed the threshold for a first round victory of 50 per cent by 0.8 per cent while his main rival, Nelson Chamisa of the MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) alliance got 44.3 per cent.

The opposition leader, who had declared himself the winner before, during and after the voting refused to accept he had been defeated and accused the country’s election commission of being in collusion with the ruling Zanu-PF party.

The acrimony which has marked the campaign was present right at the end with the MDC chairman Morgan Komichi taking to the stage at the Zimbabwe Election Commission (ZEC) offices during the announcement of the result to claim that the figures being presented were false.

Mnangagwa, a former ally of Robert Mugabe, the country’s former president, won the landmark election by 50.8%. Opposition MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa took home 44.3% of the vote. Chamisa however plans to challenge these results,  alleging the outcome of the election are fraudulent.