Zimbabwe Counts Votes After First Post-Mugabe Election

Counting began in Zimbabwe Monday in the first election since the removal of former President Robert Mugabe, a watershed vote that could pull bring the state back into the international fold and spark an economic revival.

The election is a two-horse race between 75-year-old President Emmerson Mnangagwa, a long-time Mugabe ally, and 40-year-old Nelson Chamisa, a lawyer and pastor who is vying to become Zimbabwe's youngest head of state.

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Mnangagwa is viewed as the frontrunner, though the latest opinion polls showed a tight race. There will be a runoff on Sept. 8 if no candidate wins more than half the votes.

Voting closed at 7:00 p.m. local time. The official result has to be announced within five days but there will likely be an indication of the outcome on Tuesday.

Zimbabwe's electoral commission said voter turnout had averaged 75 percent, higher than in the last vote in 2013.

Zimbabweans are also electing 210 members of parliament and more than 9,000 councilors.

Chamisa said the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) was impeding voting in urban areas where he enjoys strong support but gave no evidence to back the claim.

Reuters spoke to several international observers who said the voting process had been slow at some stations but it did not appear to them to be intentional.

Dozens of people were killed ahead of a runoff in 2008 between Mugabe and MDC-founder Morgan Tsvangirai, who died of cancer in February.

Mugabe, 94, led the war for independence from the United Kingdom and apartheid rule. He emerged on the eve of the election to announce he would vote for the opposition, surprising Mnangagwa who accused him of striking a deal with Chamisa.