HARARE: Protests in Zimbabwe turned bloody on Wednesday when soldiers opened fire and three people were killed during demonstrations over alleged vote fraud, shaking hopes that the election would mark a new era for the country.

A man died after soldiers fired live ammunition during opposition MDC party protests in downtown Harare, AFP reporters saw.

Monday’s polls — the first since autocratic president Robert Mugabe was forced out by a brief military takeover in November — had been meant to turn the page on years of violence-marred elections and brutal repression of dissent.

But the mood quickly descended into anger and chaos as supporters of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) opposition declared they were being cheated in the election count.

Official results showed that the ruling ZANU-PF party had easily won most seats in the parliamentary ballot — strengthening President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s prospects of holding onto power in the key presidential vote.

MDC supporters burnt tyres and pulled down street signs as protests spread from the party headquarters in Harare.

Mnangagwa issued a statement saying the opposition was to blame for the unrest and any fatalities.

“We hold the opposition MDC Alliance and its whole leadership responsible for this disturbance of national peace,” he said, adding the government “went out of its way” to try to ensure the elections were peaceful.

After the protests, the MDC, which has said it won the elections and that the election authorities were falsifying the results, said it condemned all forms of violence

EU observers

European Union observers had earlier declared they found an “improved political climate” in the election but an “un-level playing field and lack of trust in the process.”

It called for transparency in the release of results.

“On many occasions, preparation, financing, media and hopefully not in the counting — it was advantageous for the ruling party,” said EU chief observer Elmar Brok.

If no presidential candidate wins at least 50 per cent of the ballots cast in the first round, a run-off vote is scheduled for September 8.

The electoral commission warned that final results of the presidential first round may not be known until Friday or even Saturday.

Published in Dawn, August 2nd, 2018