A day after chaotic voting on Wednesday, public focus is now on the announcement of official results by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec) also elections are still ongoing in some constituencies - particularly in Harare, Mutare and Bulawayo - which received voting material late on the first day.
Zimbabweans voted to elect a president, legislators and local authorities, with President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zanu PF and opposition Nelson Chamisa of the Citizens Coalition for Change being the frontrunners for the presidency.
Voting at most urban polling stations in Harare and Bulawayo began four to seven hours late after Zec failed to distribute papers for local government elections on time, forcing an extension of the voting process by a day.
At least 40 wards -- 27 in Manicaland, Harare (11) and Mashonaland Central (2) saw the electorate endure arduous hours in queues at polling stations after the electoral management body failed to send local authority ballots on time.
Through Statutory Instrument (SI) 151 of 2023, which amended SI 85 gazetted earlier this year, President Emmerson Mnangagwa proclaimed that the voting process would continue throughout today in an extraordinary development that has never happened in the country's previous election cycles.
“Now, therefore, under and by virtue of the powers vested in the President as aforesaid, I do, by this proclamation in respect of the affected polling stations for the wards listed in the Schedule to this Proclamation fix the 24th of August, 2023, as the last day of polling for the election to the office of President, the election of members to the National Assembly and election of councillors,” Mnangagwa said.
While polling stations are expected to open at 7am up to 7pm on election day, this was not the case at selected urban centres in particular.
In a statement, Zec cited the electoral court challenges that transpired in the build-up to the August 23 general elections as the main reason for the late deployment of election material which has led to delays experienced by citizens intending to vote.
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“Some polling stations did not open on time due to the late deployment of election material,” ZEC said in a statement.
“Delays in the opening have largely been caused by delay in printing of the ballot paper arising from numerous Court challenges. This has been the case with Harare and Bulawayo provinces.”
According to Zec, a series of court challenges emanating from a dramatic candidate nomination process in the build-up to the polls resulted in the electoral management body encountering setbacks especially in the production of ballot material.
As the farce unfolded, online footage widely shared on social media showed a frustrated electorate in the affected areas while some voters chose to queue overnight.
