Mugabe accused of claiming allegedly illegitimate victory in Zimbabwe elections

Zimbabwe’s prime minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, announced on Thursday that the recent elections have been manipulated. Tsvangirai, who ran against  Zimbabwe’s long term president Robert Mugabe, stated that the result of the election is compromised due to violation in the voting process.

89-year-old Mugabe replied to  the accusations, saying that Wednesday’s elections took place democratically. Mugabe, who has been Zimbabwe’s president for 33 years, is now ready for his 7^th mandate.

The election was peaceful in comparison to that of 2008 which caused the death of several civilians and the kidnapping of multiple journalists.

However, the head of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN), Solom Zwana, raised some doubts concerning the fairness of the results. According to Zwana, 1 million people out of 6.4 million were kept from voting as their names weren’t on the voter’s lists.

There are also suggestions that people have been forced to vote for Mugabe, especially in rural areas, and that many young citizens weren’t registered.

International observers expressed their opinion on the Zimbabwe’s elections. The US have expressed doubts regarding the reliability of the voting, the UK has also admitted to being concerned.

According to the International Crisis Group, if the poll is inconclusive a new political crisis could ignite, bringing violence to the country.

On the other hand, the head of the African Union praised the success of the election which they claimed has been “free, honest and credible”.

The final results are expected on Monday but Mugabe is already crowing over his victory. His spokesman said that according to the party’s forecast Mugabe should get 70-75% of the votes.

If in fact no one reaches the 50% of the votes there will be another set of elections held in September.

Camilla Capasso