Mnangagwa wins first post-Mugabe poll

Incumbent President Emmerson Mnangagwa narrowly won Zimbabwe's landmark election, results showed early on Friday, but the opposition rejected the outcome of the poll.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said that Mnangagwa received 2,460,463 votes, representing 50.8 percent of the total cast.

His biggest rival, Nelson Chamisa from the opposition MDC Alliance, received 44.3 percent of the vote. The other 21 presidential candidates shared the remaining votes.

Mnangagwa won by the smallest of margins, after needing more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a second-round run-off.

"Thank you Zimbabwe! I am humbled to be elected President of the Second Republic of Zimbabwe," Mnangagwa said on Twitter. "Though we may have been divided at the polls, we are united in our dreams."

"This is a new beginning. Let us join hands, in peace, unity and love, and together build a new Zimbabwe for all," Mnangagwa said after a week which started with peaceful voting on Monday but spiraled into deadly violence in Harare on Wednesday.

Mnangagwa, 75, is Zimbabwe's second executive president after former president Robert Mugabe, who assumed the position in 1987.

Gerishon Ikiara, an international economics lecturer at the University of Nairobi, expected Zimbabwe to enjoy a better relationship with other countries after the election.

Zimbabwe has immense resources and potential, Ikiara said, and stability will bring much foreign investment. "If the violence that erupted after the election is quickly controlled, the country will be able to recover faster and regain its former potential," he said.

David Kikaya, a professor of international relations at United International University-Africa, also said the economy of Zimbabwe is expected to recover, since it has a robust economic infrastructure. The country's agricultural sector has a lot of potential, he said.

The streets of the capital city were quiet with a heavy presence of military and police after the announcement of the election results.

Six people were killed on Wednesday when troops fired live rounds to disperse opposition supporters alleging the vote had been rigged.

Opposition MDC Alliance supporters on Wednesday clashed with security forces as they protested against the delay in the announcement of presidential election results, resulting in the deployed soldiers opening fire to disperse the protesters.

International observers have since denounced the violent protests as well as the use of excessive force by the security forces.

There are 5.6 million people who registered to vote in the polls and turnout was high at more than 80 percent in most of the country's 10 provinces. The campaign and polling day were lauded by observers as peaceful and open.

The ruling party also garnered a two-thirds majority in parliament in the first vote since Mugabe left office in November.

Xinhua, AFP and Reuters contributed to this story.

edithmutethya@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 08/04/2018 page8)