Emmerson Mnangagwa, Zimbabwe’s president and leader of the ruling Zanu-PF party, has won the country’s historic and hotly contested presidential election.

From exile to election: Emmerson Mnangagwa's timeline to victory Read more

Officials from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) announced early on Friday that Mnangagwa had received 2.46m votes, or 50.8% of the 4.8m votes cast. Nelson Chamisa, the candidate of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change party (MDC), won 2.14m votes or 44.3%, the ZEC said. Mnangagwa needed to win by more than 50% to avoid a runoff vote.

Mnangagwa, 75, was a close aide of Robert Mugabe, the 94-year-old autocrat who ruled for 37 years and was ousted by the army nine months ago, and was implicated in atrocities committed under his rule. Chamisa, 40, is a former lawyer and pastor.

Priscilla Chigumba, the chair of the ZEC, urged the country to “move on” with the hopeful spirit of election day and beyond the “blemishes” of Wednesday’s “chaos”, when the army opened fire on protesters in Harare, killing six people. “May God bless this nation and its people,” she said.

Mnangagwa tweeted that he was “humbled” by the result. “This is a new beginning. Let us join hands, in peace, unity & love, & together build a new Zimbabwe for all!” he said.

President of Zimbabwe (@edmnangagwa) Thank you Zimbabwe!



I am humbled to be elected President of the Second Republic of Zimbabwe.



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 & love, & together build a new Zimbabwe for all! pic.twitter.com/FbdrixAktR

On Friday morning Chamisa called the results “fake” and said the electoral commission should release “proper and verified” numbers. “The level of opaqueness, truth deficiency, moral decay & values deficit is baffling,” he said on Twitter.

The MDC had rejected the results even before they had been announced in full. Minutes before the final result, the MDC’s chairman, Morgan Komichi, made an impromptu televised statement at the commission, saying the election was “fraudulent” and that the party would challenge the results in court. He was then removed from the stage by police.

A few Mnangagwa supporters celebrated near the entrance to the conference centre where the results were declared but there was little in the way of public celebrations in Harare other than some car horns.

Charity Manyeruke, who teaches political science at the University of Zimbabwe, said she was delighted. “There is continuity, stability,” she said at the conference centre. “Zimbabwe is poised for nation-building.”

The Zimbabwean capital was calm on Friday morning, the pavements filled with people going to work. Many also gathered around newspaper stands. The army, a visible presence this week, had withdrawn by 7am. A police presence remained, with two vehicles equipped with water cannon outside the MDC headquarters and an armoured vehicle full of riot police.

Most MDC supporters appeared resigned to the result and unwilling to take to the streets to protest. “We are just accepting whatever is there for the sake of peace, for the sake of business and calm. Life goes on. I wouldn’t support a protest. Check what happened this week when people tried it,” said Shepherd Warikandwe, a 38-year-old chef.

Hazel Moyo, a 25-year-old supermarket cashier who had voted for the first time, said that protesting would make no difference. “We will just have to put up with it. We need change but will have to wait some more,” she said.

The count took more than three days, leading to growing tensions and calls from the international community for a swift resolution.

Play Video 0:49 Tensions rise after Zimbabwe election as police and protesters clash – video

Although the campaign has been free of the systematic violence that marred previous polls, the MDC repeatedly claimed it was hindered by a flawed electoral roll, ballot paper malpractice, voter intimidation, bias in the electoral commission and handouts to voters from the ruling party. Several of its complaints have been upheld by monitors’ reports.

Eighteen opposition officials were detained by police during a raid on the MDC’s headquarters in Harare on Thursday afternoon.

Prof Stephen Chan, an expert in African politics at the University of London, said the election could be judged “plausible to credible” but could not be called “free and fair”.

Chan, who is in Zimbabwe, said he believed the problems with the count were down to incompetence rather than conspiracy but that the alleged irregularities before the poll could have been significant, especially in avoiding a runoff.

'We thought this had gone away': Zimbabwe violence dashes dreams Read more

“The narrowness of the result suggests that Mnangagwa is the last of the Zanu-PF giants and that at the next election the opposition will have everything to play for,” he said.

Mnangagwa’s share of the vote was lower than some expected. Zanu-PF had swept to a two-thirds majority in simultaneous parliamentary elections and was broadly considered the favourite by analysts. But the opposition campaign gathered significant momentum in the last days of campaigning.

The announcement of the result was delayed while figures for Mashonaland West, a major province and Zanu-PF stronghold, were finalised, and was disrupted by an MDC spokesman who said the party rejected the results because they had not been verified by polling agents.

All polling station data would be made available to the media and party officials, the ZEC said.

Zimbabwe now faces new uncertainty and a potential period of instability. The country si hoping to reintegrate into the international community after years of isolation. Foreign powers will have to decide whether the elections give Mnangagwa and Zanu-PF the legitimacy needed to seek to rejoin institutions such as the Commonwealth.

Without a massive and rapid infusion of foreign aid, the country is also facing total economic breakdown.



Polls had earlier given Mnangagwa, a dour former spy chief known as “the Crocodile” for his reputation for ruthless cunning, a slim lead over Chamisa, a brilliant if sometimes wayward orator.

Support for Zanu-PF has historically been strongest in rural areas, where more than two-thirds of voters live. The party dominated its traditional heartland provinces of Mashonaland Central and East, while the MDC won the major cities of Harare and Bulawayo convincingly.</s>Emmerson Mnangagwa has won Zimbabwe's presidential election in a poll marred by voters' violent reaction to delays in the results.

The election commission early Friday gave Mnangagwa 50.8 percent of the vote, barely ahead of opposition leader Nelson Chamisa.

The commission said turnout was large in most provinces and that a large number of votes were rejected.

The commission declared the election an unqualified success, but it also said it deeply regretted the violence between protesters and police that left at least six people dead in Harare.

Chamisa and his opposition Movement for Democratic Change party alleged cheating in the election and said Chamisa won the vote.

When asked what he would do if the results did not come out in his favor, Chamisa said, "We'll do a lot of things within the confines of legality and the constitution."

When asked if he'd had any contact with Mnangagwa, as was indicated on Twitter, Chamisa denied it.

Mnangagwa appeared to strike a conciliatory tone on Twitter, saying he would call for an investigation into the violence.

In contradicting Chamisa, Mnangagwa also said, "We have been in communication with Chamisa to discuss how to immediately defuse the situation, and we must maintain this dialogue in order to protect the peace we hold dear."

On Wednesday, hundreds of angry Chamisa supporters thronged the election commission. Protesters threw rocks, as police fired back with tear gas and water cannons.

Later, army vehicles rolled through the streets, and soldiers were seen beating and shooting at pedestrians.

This was the first election for many Zimbabweans without Robert Mugabe, who held power for close to 40 years before resigning as president late last year.</s>HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwe’s president said Thursday that his government has been in touch with the main opposition leader in an attempt to ease tensions after election-related violence in the country’s capital.

As the African nation awaited results from its presidential election on Monday, President Emmerson Mnangagwa tweeted that “we have been in communication” with challenger Nelson Chamisa and that “we must maintain this dialogue in order to protect the peace we hold dear.”

Mnangagwa’s conciliatory remarks came a day after soldiers occupied the streets of Harare, shooting live rounds and beating demonstrators, many of whom were throwing rocks and setting fires to protest alleged fraud in Monday’s election. Three people were killed.

The violence erupted after the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said the ruling ZANU-PF party won a majority in parliament. The commission, which must announce the presidential results by Saturday, has said the vote was free and fair.

In a series of tweets, Mnangagwa also called for an “independent investigation” into the violence in Harare, saying those responsible “should be identified and brought to justice.”

Mnangagwa previously said the opposition was to blame for the violence, though some international observers criticized the military for opening fire on unarmed civilians.

On Thursday, the streets of Harare were quiet as soldiers on foot and in trucks moved around, instructing vendors and other people to leave the city center by noon. There was a heavy police presence around the headquarters of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change party, which had sought to dislodge the ruling party at the polls after decades of rule by former longtime leader Robert Mugabe.

The military deployment was the first time that soldiers had appeared in the capital’s streets since a military takeover led to the ouster of Mugabe in November. At that time, residents welcomed the soldiers as liberators.

Home Affairs Minister Obert Mpofu said late Wednesday that the military will remain in the capital until “this situation is over.”</s>On Wednesday, when troops in Zimbabwe opened fire on thousands of people protesting a marred election two days before, it was a shot heard round the world. The violent crackdown was a clear signal that President Emmerson Mnangagwa had not delivered on a promise to Western countries of a credible, corruption-free election.

Instead, Zimbabwe, like many African countries, may be further poised to embrace China and its proposed world order, which is essentially this: Don’t worry about democratic credentials or human rights, let’s just keep doing business without meddling in each other’s internal affairs.

In many ways, Zimbabwe’s election, which came eight months after the military ouster of longtime ruler Robert Mugabe, was a contest between the current world order, designed by the West after World War II, and the emerging one of a rising China.

The West was offering loans and investments from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and other international creditors if Zimbabwe held a fair election and started to tackle corruption.

China preferred the current regime, no matter what, which would allow it to further exploit the country’s abundant minerals and rich farmland while bringing Zimbabwe into its newly created international organizations. Both Mr. Mnangagwa and Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, leader of the armed forces, had visited China in the run-up to the election.

Zimbabwe’s postelection problems are still unfinished. Mnangagwa’s ruling party, Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front, was declared the winner in the parliamentary race by the distrusted electoral commission. The results of the presidential contest have been delayed, raising suspicions among supporters of his main opponent, Nelson Chamisa. In the meantime, foreign observers found plenty wrong with the election process.

Zimbabwe remains a test case of the two views of world order, not only because of this election but because its economy is in desperate straits. It does not have its own currency and must rely mostly on US dollars. Its people somehow endure with hyperinflation and high unemployment, a result of mismanagement and corruption under Mr. Mugabe.

For a decade, China has been the country’s biggest investor. Yet popular resentment against Chinese influence led the opposition candidate to take an anti-China position in the campaign. This week’s protests about the election were also a statement about China’s antidemocratic approach to the rest of the world.

As events play out in Zimbabwe, the ideals of democracy may still win out, reinforcing the success of the postwar order. At the least, the final result should not be decided with bullets but in a peaceful consensus that affirms basic freedoms.</s>Zimbabwean human rights activists on Thursday strongly condemned soldiers' actions in post-election violence that left at least six people dead and 14 wounded in Harare, the capital, as the nation's electoral commission promised that tensely awaited presidential poll results would be issued soon.

"There's absolutely no skulduggery or anything untoward happening," said Zimbabwe Electoral Commission chairman Emmanuel Magade, when asked why the results had not yet been announced. Legally, officials said, they have until August 4 to release results, and promised they would do so "very soon."

Opposition leader Nelson Chamisa held firm, just hours before the announcement was due. Chamisa maintained that he had won.

"You can't rig an election, or manipulate an election, and then use that as a basis of engagement," he said. "That's deceitful."

When asked what he would do if the results did not come out in his favor, he said, "We'll do a lot of things within the confines of legality and the constitution." When asked if he had had any contact with President Emmerson Mnangagwa, as the president indicated on Twitter, Chamisa denied it.

"There's no communication," Chamisa said.

"I know we have won the presidential election, but we will wait for the proper announcement of the results. Nevertheless, in the unlikely event that we do not win the presidential election, we will still request our supporters to accept the verdict of the people and allow Chamisa to take over," said Paul Mangwana, spokesman for the ruling ZANU-PF party led by President Mnangagwa.

Mnangagwa appeared to strike a conciliatory tone on Twitter, saying he would call for an investigation into the violence. In contradicting Chamisa, Mnangagwa also said, "We have been in communication with (presidential challenger) Nelson Chamisa to discuss how to immediately defuse the situation, and we must maintain this dialogue in order to protect the peace we hold dear."

On Wednesday, hundreds of angry Chamisa supporters thronged the election commission. Protesters threw rocks as police fired back with tear gas and water cannon. Later, army vehicles rolled through the streets, and soldiers were seen beating and shooting at pedestrians.

The streets of central Harare, usually a hive of activity and a snarl of traffic, were eerily quiet Thursday morning as soldiers and police manned them and told shopkeepers to close early and go home. Police also surrounded opposition headquarters in central Harare, ratcheting up the tension even more.

On Wednesday, police announced that they had called in the army to assist in keeping order, invoking the controversial Public Order and Security Act. That act was used during previous elections under the iron-fisted rule of President Robert Mugabe, who held power for close to 40 years before resigning late last year.

Activist Jestina Mukoko, director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, described the soldiers' response to the protests as "outrageous."

"Reports indicated that the police were in control of the situation when military vehicles were observed driving into the central business district," she said. "Gunshots were fired randomly throughout the central business district, and forum observers witnessed soldiers randomly firing live bullets and beating up bystanders who were not involved in the protest. The military's conduct fell short of internationally accepted standards in controlling protesting crowds."

Lizwe Jamela of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights said the country's leadership needs to do more than make statements.

"What is needed is a commitment that what happened yesterday will never happen again," he said. "The statements may just be words loaded with promises, but the real issue is: what are they telling the soldiers that are on the street, what are they telling the police that are on the street in response to what is going to happen if citizens protest? What are the orders that are being given?"</s>HARARE: Zimbabwe on Thursday awaited the outcome of presidential elections that have plunged the country into bloodshed and protest, stirring memories of a traumatic past.

A day after three people were shot dead during demonstrations against alleged electoral fraud, the capital Harare -- its centre cleared by troops -- braced for the announcement of the results later Thursday.

"The presidential election results will start to be announced around 10 pm," Zimbabwe Election Commission (ZEC) commissioner Qhubani Moyo told AFP. "We are hopeful that all of them will be announced today."

The vote on Monday -- the first since iron-fisted ruler Robert Mugabe was ousted last year -- were meant to turn the page on years of brutal repression.

But anger flared over alleged vote-rigging, prompting troops to use live rounds on protestors.

The government accused the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) opposition party of inciting the unrest and vowed to enforce a security clampdown.

But President Emmerson Mnangagwa also said on Twitter that he wanted an independent investigation into the killings, and that he sought to settle differences "peacefully".

The presidential race has pitted 75-year-old Mnangagwa, Mugabe's former ally in the ruling ZANU-PF party, against the MDC's leader, Nelson Chamisa, 35 years his junior.

In a late-night press conference on Wednesday, Home Affairs Minister Obert Mpofu warned further protests would not be tolerated.

"The opposition... are testing our resolve and I think they are making a big mistake," he said.

On Thursday, soldiers guarded the headquarters of ZANU-PF, while armoured personnel carriers, water cannon trucks and police anti-riot vans took position outside MDC headquarters.

Soldiers brandishing assault rifles and police shouted at pedestrians and traders to leave central Harare, AFP journalists witnessed.

- Victory claim -

 

 Chamisa ratcheted up pressure, saying he had won the presidential vote and that the result was being faked.

"What they have been trying to do of late is to play around... that is rigging, that is manipulation, trying to bastardise the result, and that we will not allow," he told reporters.

In official results from the parliamentary election, also held on Monday, ZANU-PF won easily -- suggesting Mnangagwa would be on course to retain the presidency.

Mnangagwa had promised a free and fair vote after the military ushered him to power when Mugabe was forced to resign.

A credible and peaceful vote was meant to end Zimbabwe's international isolation and attract foreign investment to revive the shattered economy.

The MDC said the army had opened fire on Wednesday "for no apparent reason," killing unarmed civilians.

"It's disappointing -- the government's reaction only made things worse. It was heavy-handed," trader Timie Manuwere, 37, told AFP.

"But I didn't expect things to really change much with the elections. It was highly unlikely these guys would just give up power after eight months."

Election observers from the Commonwealth issued a statement Thursday to "denounce the excessive use of force against unarmed civilians" while former colonial power Britain appealed for Zimbabwe to remove the army from the streets.

Before the violence, European Union observers declared they found an "un-level playing field and lack of trust" in the election process.

- History of election violence -

 

 Under Mugabe, elections were often marred by fraud and deadly violence.

Of 210 parliamentary seats, 207 have been counted with ZANU-PF winning 144 and the MDC Alliance just 61.

ZEC chairwoman Priscilla Chigumba, a high court judge, has flatly rejected allegations of bias and rigging.

Mugabe, 94, voted in Harare on Monday alongside his wife Grace after he stunned observers by calling for voters to reject ZANU-PF, his former party.

The campaign and polling day were lauded as relatively peaceful and open.

Mnangagwa was the clear election front-runner, benefitting from tacit military support and state resources. But Chamisa, a lawyer and pastor, sought to tap into the youth and urban vote.

Mnangagwa was allegedly involved in violence and intimidation during the 2008 elections when then opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out of the run-off after attacks claimed the lives of at least 200 of his supporters.

If no presidential candidate wins at least 50 percent of the ballots cast in the first round, a run-off is scheduled for September 8.</s>Christopher Torchia and Farai Mutsaka, The Associated Press 

 



HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Zimbabwe's ruling party and the main opposition group on Thursday both declared that they won the presidential election ahead of the imminent announcement of the result, reflecting a bitter rivalry that was exacerbated by deadly violence in the capital.

Six people were killed when police and army fired live rounds to disperse a protest Wednesday by opposition supporters in Harare, the capital, police reported. In addition 14 were injured and 18 people were arrested at the offices of the main opposition party, said police.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said it will start announcing results of the presidential election at 10 p.m. (20:00GMT) Thursday, though by law it has five days from the vote on Monday to deliver the final tally and it has sometimes given conflicting statements about when it is releasing information. International election observers urged the commission to reveal the presidential results as soon as possible, saying delays will increase speculation about vote-rigging.

Meanwhile, a spokesman said the main opposition candidate, Nelson Chamisa, was being investigated by police for allegedly inciting violence.

Chamisa, opposition politician Tendai Biti and several others are suspected of the crimes of "possession of dangerous weapons" and "public violence," according to a copy of a search warrant, which was seen by The Associated Press. The warrant authorizes police to search for and confiscate any evidence as part of their investigation.

The authenticity of the warrant was confirmed by Kumbirai Mafunda, a spokesman for Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the ruling ZANU-PF party have accused the opposition of inciting the deadly violence. The opposition, human rights activists and international election observers condemned the "excessive" force used to crush the protests and appealed to all sides to exercise restraint.

Opposition demonstrations had broken out after electoral officials said the ruling party had won a parliamentary majority in the elections, and Paul Mangwana, a ZANU-PF spokesman, said at a news conference he anticipated similar success in the presidential race. Elsewhere in Harare, Chamisa said he was confident that his Movement for Democratic change party would be forming the next government.

As the rival camps sparred over the election outcome, they also appealed for calm amid a fog of conflicting accounts. Mnangagwa said his government was in touch with Chamisa in an attempt to ease the tensions, though the opposition leader said he had not received any communication.

Soldiers cleared people from the streets of downtown Harare on Thursday after they swept in and opened fire on Wednesday to disperse protesters who alleged vote-rigging in the peaceful election, the first without longtime leader Robert Mugabe on the ballot. The electoral commission has said the vote was free and fair.

A credible vote is crucial to the lifting of international sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe so that its collapsed economy can recover. Elections under Mugabe's 37-year rule were marked by violence and intimidation against the opposition, as well as numerous allegations of fraud.

Mnangagwa, who is close to the military, called for an "independent investigation" into the violence in Harare, saying those responsible "should be identified and brought to justice."

The military deployment was the first time that soldiers had appeared in the streets of the capital since Mugabe's resignation in November after a military takeover. At that time, thousands of jubilant residents welcomed the soldiers as liberators.

Some Harare residents, standing amid the shattered windows of the violence, expressed frustration and exhaustion.

"We are a peaceful nation," said 29-year-old Sifas Gavanga. "We don't deserve the death we saw."</s>HARARE (Reuters) - Soldiers patrolled the streets of Harare on Thursday a day after three opposition protesters were killed in post-election clashes that dashed President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s hopes of ending Zimbabwe’s reputation for political repression.

Troops backed by armored vehicles opened fire on Wednesday to clear the capital’s streets of demonstrators who accused Mnangagwa’s ruling party of trying to rig Monday’s presidential election.

Many shops were closed on Thursday morning and the pavements quiet. Several streets were still strewn with rocks and the charred remains of fires. Soldiers loitered at intersections.

“Yesterday was a very sad day for Zimbabwe,” said minibus driver Gift, glancing over his shoulder as a soldier smoking a cigarette looked on.

“We hope things remain quiet and we can all just forget about this election. We don’t know if it was fair. The government will do what they want.”

The deployment of soldiers and their shooting and beating of unarmed protesters is likely to set back efforts to end Zimbabwe’s pariah status in the wake of the army’s removal of longtime leader Robert Mugabe in a coup last November.

Mnangagwa blamed the violence on the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, led by Nelson Chamisa, who announced on Twitter on Wednesday that he had “won the popular vote”. Chamisa provided no details or concrete evidence of rigging.

The website of the election commission, which is expected to start announcing presidential election results on Thursday, was offline after being taken out by unidentified hackers overnight.

Amnesty International called on the government to launch a prompt investigation into the army’s actions.

“It is unfortunate that this election has descended into bloodshed, which could have been avoided if security forces had exercised restraint against protesters,” the London-based human rights organization said.

It said that by using live ammunition against unarmed protesters, “the army has broken the very same rule of law that they should protect”.</s>HARARE - Observers from the Commonwealth on Thursday condemned the Zimbabwean army’s deadly use of force to break up protests in Harare by opposition supporters claiming a presidential election had been rigged by the ruling party.

Former colonial power Britain also said it was deeply concerned by the situation, while the United Nations had earlier called from restraint from all sides in the bloody aftermath to Monday’s election.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa meanwhile said he had been talking to opposition leader Nelson Chamisa to try to defuse tension after clashes on the streets of Harare in which troops opened fire on opposition demonstrators, killing three.

The streets were calm on Thursday morning although many shops were shuttered in the city centre.

But the dispute over the conduct of the elections and the subsequent violence has punctured the euphoria over the army’s removal of longtime strongman Robert Mugabe last November and the hope that Zimbabwe might be entering a new era of democracy after decades of political repression and economic ruin.

The international community’s view on the election is crucial to Harare’s efforts to patch up relations after years of hostility under Mugabe and secure the billions of dollars of donor funding and investment needed to rebuild its economy.

But observers from the Commonwealth, the group of mainly former British colonies that Mnangagwa had been hoping to rejoin, did not mince their words.

“We categorically denounce the excessive use of force against unarmed civilians,” former Ghanaian president John Mahama said in a statement on behalf of the Commonwealth.

The Commonwealth also urged the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to expedite the announcement of the results of the presidential vote. The observers had on Wednesday reported several problems with the poll, including voter intimidation.

The European Union said the elections were competitive and freedoms were respected, but that there was a lack of a “truly level playing field”.

Writing on Twitter, Mnangagwa also called for an independent investigation into the violence and offered his condolences to the families of victims.

He said he had been in contact with Chamisa. But there was no response from the MDC Alliance leader, who claimed several times on Twitter to have “won the popular vote” but provided no numbers or concrete evidence of fraud by the ruling Zanu-PF party.

The deployment of soldiers and their shooting and beating of unarmed protesters is likely to set back efforts to end the pariah status that Zimbabwe acquired in the latter half of Mugabe’s nearly four decades in charge.

In particular, it is likely to confirm suspicions that the generals who ousted Mugabe - including army chief-turned vice-president Constantino Chiwenga - remain the pre-eminent political force.

“The unmeasured military response bears witness to a security apparatus little reformed since the Mugabe era,” said Christopher McKee, chief executive of political risk consultancy PRS Group.

“It matters little whether this heavy-handed response came on Mnangagwa’s orders: evidence that the president lacks the authority to control the security forces will be just as damning in terms of the impact on Zimbabwe’s international rehabilitation.”

Piers Pigou, a Zimbabwe expert at the International Crisis Group think-tank agreed, saying: “Deployment of the army reveals the uncomfortable truth that, eight months after Mugabe was ousted in a coup, the army remains the pre-eminent political force.”

China, an important source of funding under Mugabe and Mnangagwa, said, however, it believed the election had generally proceeded in an orderly fashion. A foreign ministry spokesman “noted” reports of Wednesday’s violence.

In Harare on Thursday morning, shops were shuttered, and soldiers loitered on streets strewn with rocks and embers from fires set by the demonstrators.

The website of the election commission, which is expected to start announcing presidential election results on Thursday, was offline after being taken out by unidentified hackers overnight.

“Yesterday was a very sad day for Zimbabwe,” said minibus driver Gift, glancing over his shoulder at a soldier smoking a cigarette.

“We hope things remain quiet and we can all just forget about this election. We don’t know if it was fair. The government will do what they want.”</s>Zimbabwe's president Emmerson Mnangagwa has promised an independent inquiry into post election clashes in which three opposition protesters were killed.

Mr Mnangagwa, whose ruling Zanu PF party yesterday claimed a large majority in disputed parliamentary elections, said he had been in contact with the leader of the opposition MDC Alliance in a bid to defuse tensions.

"I am calling...for an independent inquiry into what occurred in Harare yesterday. We believe in transparency and accountability, and those responsible should be identified and brought to justice," he wrote on his official Twitter channel.

"We have been in communication with Nelson Chamisa to discuss how to immediately diffuse the situation, and we must maintain this dialogue in order to protect the peace we hold dear."

A spokesman for Mr Chamisa said he was not at liberty to confirm or deny whether such talks had taken place.

Troops backed by armoured vehicles opened fire on Wednesday to clear the capital's streets of demonstrators who accused Mnangagwa's ruling party of trying to rig Monday's presidential election.

Many shops were closed on Thursday morning and the pavements quiet. Several streets were still strewn with rocks and the charred remains of fires. Soldiers loitered at intersections.

"Yesterday was a very sad day for Zimbabwe," said minibus driver Gift, glancing over his shoulder as a soldier smoking a cigarette looked on.

"We hope things remain quiet and we can all just forget about this election. We don't know if it was fair. The government will do what they want."
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission declares Emmerson Mnangagwa of the ruling ZANU–PF party the winner of Zimbabwe's 2018 presidential election.