Harare (New Ziana) – Election results in Zimbabwe’s mid-week general election started trickling in on Thursday, a day after the vote.
But vote counting was still underway in most areas, and the bulk of the results, especially for parliamentary constituencies, and local authority wards, were expected from Thursday on-wards.
In a few areas, voting was extended to Thursday after it was called off on Wednesday due to unavailability of ballot papers.
In the election, voters were choosing a new president, and parliamentary and local government representatives for the next five years.
In the southern city of Masvingo, election officials started declaring the results of the local government segment of the poll by mid-morning on Thursday, kicking off a process that is expected to run for at least five days.
Local government is the smallest of the three segments of the general election, and counting and collating of the results for these is quicker.
The results for the other two segments – presidential and parliamentary – take longer and are centrally announced by the national elections body.
More local government election results were expected later in the day on Thursday and will give a good indication of where the voter’s pendulum has swan.
Incumbent President Emmerson Mnangagwa, though, is considered firm favourite for the presidential vote in which he is being challenged by nine other contenders.
Six million voters registered to take part in the vote, and high turnouts were recorded in most areas.
New Ziana
