ZEC announces Mnangagwa victory in Zimbabwe elections
Zanu-PF's Emmerson Mnangagwa has beaten the MDA Alliance's Nelson Chamisa in the race for Zimbabwe's presidential election.
HARARE - Zanu-PF leader Emmerson Mnangangwa has been elected president of Zimbabwe in the country's 2018 presidential election.
The Zimbabwean Electoral Commission made the announcement after midnight, with Mnangangwa receiving 50.8% of the total vote.
His opponent, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Alliance chief Nelson Chamisa, received 44.3% of the vote.
ZEC announced that Mnangagwa had secured 2.46 million votes against 2.15 million for Chamisa.
Mnangagwa, a former spy chief installed led the removal of his ex-ally Robert Mugabe’s in November last year.
Zimbabwe's first elections after Mugabe's decades-long rule has been marred by violence and the deaths of six people in an army crackdown on opposition protests.
#ZimElections2018#ZimElects2018
— Chriselda Lewis (@Chriseldalewis) August 2, 2018
Celebrations outside the election results centre as Emmerson Mnangagwa declared winner of the 2018 polls. #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/DgZuUYDn3M
Meanwhile, the MDC Alliance had rejected the presidential results before the ZEC's announcement after midnight.
Party officials held an impromptu briefing during a 60-minute break ahead of the release of the final result.
They said their agents were denied an opportunity to verify the results, and therefore the party rejects them.
The alliance's Morgan Komichi said the figures obtained by the party agents need to be checked against those that were announced.
MDC President Nelson Chamisa is expected to hold a briefing responding to the results later this morning.
[WATCH] #MDC Alliance’s Morgan Komichi says Nelson #Chamisa will addresss media on their stance over the presidential election results which they say they have rejected. MS pic.twitter.com/1uVY4g1hPt
— EWN Reporter (@ewnreporter) August 2, 2018
