The Zimbabwean government posited that the first elections after the November 2017 ouster of Robert Mugabe would enhance the state’s credibility and strengthen the country’s prospects for economic recovery.
Voters responded in kind, heading to the polls in unprecedented numbers.
The results, however, confirmed that the country is deeply divided, with the opposition contesting the electoral commission’s determination that Emmerson Mnangagwa won the presidency.
Several parliamentary challenges are also underway in separate petitions. The opposition is accusing the electoral commission of bias and fraud in its legal petition to overturn the election results.
The Constitutional Court is expected to announce its judgment in the case later in August.
Divisions deepened further after soldiers fired live ammunition upon protesters in the streets of Harare for the first time.
The president and senior ruling party figures called for calm, blaming the opposition for the violence, yet remained conspicuously silent about any malfeasance on the security forces’ part.
These conditions are a recipe for further unrest.
Læs hele analysen hos International Crisis Group
