Zimbabwe election results expected on Thursday evening

Zimbabwe’s Electoral Commission says presidential election results will be announced from 10pm CAT Thursday night.

The election has pitched Emmerson Mnangagwa against Nelson Chamisa.

Zimbabwe’s first elections since the removal of long-standing President Robert Mugabe turned violent when soldiers opened fire on protests against alleged voting fraud, killing at least three people on Wednesday.

Zanu-PF has won 144 seats in the National Assembly, giving it a two-thirds majority.

The Electoral Commission’s Qhubani Moyo addressed the media in the capital, Harare.

“In our initial conversation with you, we said that when we meet we are going to have an exact time when we will be able to tell you when we will announce the president election result. The result will start to be announced tonight from 10 PM.”

Meanwhile, the South African government has denied claims by the leader of the Zimbabwean main opposition MDC-Alliance Nelson Chamisa that President Cyril Ramaphosa refused to meet him to discuss disputes ahead of the country’s general elections on Monday.

A few days before the staging of the polls, Chamisa said he had written to Ramaphosa requesting his intervention after rising complains about lack of transparency in the electoral process, and failure by the country’s electoral body to publish the voters roll.

International Relations and Cooperation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu says, “I am hearing this for the first time. I have never received any request from Honourable Chamisa to see either myself or the President. There is no merit to that accusation. We would welcome Chamisa any day even in this last moment and if it would dispel any notion that we have taken sides or we have snubbed him. It’s not true.”

WATCH – Briefing on Zimbabwe results: