More than 6.6 million voters are heading to the polls in Zimbabwe to elect their new president, legislators, and local representatives. This election holds crucial significance, marked by an intense showdown between the incumbent President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the opposition leader Nelson Chamisa.
Zimbabwe is gearing up for a pivotal day as over 6.6 million voters converge on polling stations to express their choices in the presidential, legislative, and local elections taking place this Wednesday. The Chairperson of the country’s Electoral Commission, Priscilla Chigumba, announced that voter registration efforts resulted in the enrollment of over 450,000 people, bringing the total number of registered voters to 6,623,511.
The most anticipated contest is the one between the incumbent President Emmerson Mnangagwa and Nelson Chamisa, the leader of the Coalition of Democrats for Change (CCC), the main opposition party. These two political figures had previously squared off in the 2018 presidential election, which Mnangagwa narrowly won.
However, the 2018 presidential election was marred by allegations of fraud by the opposition, leading to violent protests in Harare. President Mnangagwa, who assumed power following a coup that ousted former President Robert Mugabe, pledged last April to hold free and fair elections while urging the population to avoid violence.
The controversial law passed by Parliament that bans civil society organizations from engaging in politics has sparked outrage from human rights groups and the international community. This law has added an additional layer of complexity to an already tense electoral process.
