Zimbabweans waited anxiously for election results Friday as security forces sealed off roads leading to the national election center, the scene of protests and deadly violence after the last vote in 2018.
The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said the ruling Zanu-PF party had won 38 parliamentary seats, while the main opposition Citizens Coalition for Change had won 32, according to Reuters.
The commission has yet to release results from the presidential election.
Voting wrapped up Thursday after delays in distributing ballots, mostly in urban areas, prompted officials to extend voting by one day.
The U.S. has accused Zimbabwe of intentionally undermining its election for the presidency, the legislature and municipal councils.
Police say they arrested 41 election monitors and seized their equipment in raids Wednesday. They said the monitors were using their computers and cell phones “to unlawfully tabulate election voting statistics and results from polling stations,” an activity the police characterized as “subversive and criminal.”
“The police raid on civil society conducting legitimate election observation demonstrates the government of Zimbabwe’s lack of respect for free and fair elections,” U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “Dismayed at the lengths they will go to undermine their own election’s credibility.”
In the presidential vote, 80-year-old incumbent Emmerson Mnangagwa is seeking a second term. Nelson Chamisa, 45, the leader of the CCC, is challenging the president for the country’s top spot.
Mnangagwa took power after staging a coup that ousted the late Robert Mugabe in 2017.