Incumbent President Mnangagwa Takes Strong Lead in Zimbabwe Elections - Reports

With 9 out of 10 provinces declared, incumbent Zimbabwean president had 2,15 million votes against 1,93 million for opposition leader Nelson Chamisa, according to tallies from the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.

Chamisa, the leader of largest Zimbabwean opposition party of MDC Alliance, said Thursday that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has continuously postponed the release of the presidential election results as it is involved in "rigging" and "manipulation."

"In my own case, where our MPs would also not perform well, I would double that vote. So overall with the popular vote, [I am] ahead of Mnangagwa… What they have been trying to do of late is to try and play around with the V11 forms, sending them back. That is why [ZEC] has not released the results because they are going back to the constituencies to say, please, we did not count well, we did not make a good summation, which is a problem. That is now rigging. That is now manipulation," Chamisa told reporters.

On Monday, Zimbabwe held general elections. The Zimbabweans elected the country's president and the members of the parliament's two chambers. The presidential ballot included record 23 names, with 75-year-old incumbent President Emmerson Mnangagwa from the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party and 40-year-old Chamisa being the main contenders.

The MDC Alliance secured 64 seats in the National Assembly, according to ZEC.

Protests erupted after preliminary results of this Monday’s general election showed the ruling Zanu-PF party winning the majority of seats in parliament. The opposition MDC Alliance claimed its nominee was leading in the presidential poll with his supporters insisting that the election was rigged.

The government deployed troops across the country to maintain order. At least three people killed Wednesday were reportedly shot dead by the army in an attempt to disperse the protesters. The home minister argued at the briefing that security forces would remain in place.