Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa was re-elected for a second and final five-year term in results announced much earlier than expected. An opposition party spokesperson said within minutes of Mnangagwa being declared the winner that they would reject the results as hastily assembled without proper verification. Mnangagwa’s victory meant the ZANU-PF party retained the governmental leadership it has held for all 43 years of Zimbabwe’s history since the nation was re-named following independence from white minority rule in 1980.

The South African nation of 16 million, has a history of election irregularities, and such tactics helped Robert Mugabe, a liberation leader turned autocrat, maintain power for nearly four decades.