Zimbabwean electoral officials on Monday said a by-election that was marred by violence, intimidation, vote buying and rigging at the weekend had been won by President Robert Mugabe’s ruling party.
Thomas Bvuma of the Electoral Supervisory Commission said the Zengeza voting district south of the capital was won by ruling-party representative Christopher Chigumbo with 8 447 votes to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change’s (MDC) James Makore who got 6 706 votes.
The two-day weekend election was marred by violent clashes between opposition members and the ruling party, culminating in the shooting dead of an opposition supporter on Sunday, the MDC said.
The announcement of the fatal shooting was made a day after MDC youth member Francis Chinozvinya was shot in the chest. Another MDC member was reportedly shot in the leg.
In a second incident, opposition-party candidate Makore fired three warning shots into the air to disperse what he called a “rowdy mob descending on him” near a polling station.
At least 50 people were injured in clashes between rival groups, hospital officials said.
“The atmosphere was extremely tense and intimidatory,” said Zimbabwe Electoral Support Network chairperson Reginald Matchaba-Hove.
It said four truckloads of ruling-party youth militants raided the house of the MDC candidate, James Makore, which also operated as a campaign centre. Eleven other opposition supporters were wounded, MDC general secretary Welshman Ncube said Sunday.
The poll was seen as a litmus test of the ruling party’s ability to penetrate urban constituencies — seen as MDC strongholds — ahead of next year’s general elections. — Sapa-APF