Election officials tally presidential candidates ballots during counting operations for Zimbabwe’s general election. Photo: AFP / Marco Longari

Harare, August 1, 2018 (AltAfrica)-There are clear indications that Zimbabwe’s acting president, Emmerson Mnangagwa may be declared winner of the presidential election today days ahead of schedule

Emmerson Mnangagwa’s ruling party has won a majority of seats in Parliament, the electoral commission announced Wednesday, as the country braced for the first official results of the presidential election.

The ruling ZANU-PF won 109 seats while the main opposition MDC party had 41 in the country’s 210-seat House of Assembly. The commission said two seats were won by smaller parties and 58 seats had yet to be declared.

Jubilant Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF party supporters after winning the majority of seats in parliament after sweeping rural constituencies by huge margins. Photo: AFP / Luis Tato

Zimbabwe’s electoral agency will start announcing presidential election results from 12.30pm, an official said on Wednesday, after the main opposition candidate accused the ruling party of trying to steal the general election.

Qubani Moyo, a commissioner at Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, said results from the race that pitted main rivals President Emmerson Mnangagwa and MDC leader Nelson Chamisa would be given for each of the country’s 210 constituencies.

This could mean it would be a slow process to the final result.

Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s presidential and parliamentary vote was peaceful and orderly and opened the door to strengthen the country’s democracy, election observers from the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) bloc said on Wednesday

Comesa observer mission says the #ZimElections2018 were peaceful, transparent and adhered to regional and international standards.

Comesa says any election disputes must be taken through legal channels.

The Head of Comesa Election Observer team Ambassador Ashraf Gamal Rashed says there was a significant improvement in the general management of elections compared to previous elections

Regional observers endorse Zimbabwe poll

Election observers from southern African nations have commended Zimbabwe for a peaceful, orderly election, though they also identified some shortcomings in how it was conducted.

The Southern African Development Community says Zimbabweans had the “opportunity to exercise their constitutional right,” and applauds the government for allowing more international observers for Monday’s vote.

Manuel Domingos Augusto, the Angolan foreign minister and SADC representative, calls the elections “a political watershed in Zimbabwe’s history, as they may open a new chapter leading towards socioeconomic recovery and consolidation of democracy.”

Augusto says efforts should be made to allow the millions in Zimbabwe’s diaspora, barred from voting abroad, to vote in future elections.

African Union endorses Zimbabwe elections as free and fair

BBC’s Piers Scholfield says police have been deployed outside the MDC headquarters in Harare ahead of the announcement of the presidential election results.

Opposition in pensive mood

Dozens of Zimbabwean opposition supporters are gathering for a second day outside party headquarters, but earlier celebrations have been replaced by defiance and bitterness at what they believe is a stolen election.

Members of the Movement for Democratic Change are chanting anti-government slogans as police with water cannons are nearby.

“I am pained when I think of my vote,” the opposition voters sang after the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said the ruling Zanu-PF party had won a parliamentary majority in Monday’s election.

BBC quotes a senior member of Zimbabwe’s opposition MDC Alliance as saying that former ruler Robert Mugabe’s endorsement of their presidential candidate, Nelson Chamisa, cost the party votes in Monday’s election.

Additional agencies report