VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Monday (July 30, 2018) is a historic day for the people of Zimbabwe. For the first time, since the fall of former President Robert Mugabe late last year, Zimbabwe held the Presidential, National and Regional Parliaments elections. In the Presidential election, 23 people registered as candidates. But only two have claimed to have the support of the people's votes; namely incumbent president  Emmerson Mnangagwa of ZANU PF party and leader of the opposition Movement of Democratic Change  (MDC),  Nelson Chamisa. If no candidate gets a vote of more than 50%, then a second round of voting will be held on 8 September. President Mnangagwa claimed to win this election, so  did Chamisa. The MDC leader even accused the allegations of fraud, though was  denied by the ruling camp. The chaos in this election has taken at least 3 lives. The government blamed the opposition as the cause of the riots. The provisional announcement of Zimbabwe's legislative elections Wednesday (1 August 2018) says the current ruling party, ZANU-PF, has won 110 of the 210-seats in the  lower house. The opposition MDC won 41 seats, other parties 2 seats, while the remaining 57 seats are still being counted. With the achievement of more than half of the parliamentary seats, the ZANU-PF party may win this election. Like the presidential election, the opposition also refuses to accept this election result because it is considered full of fraud. Meanwhile, the father of Zimbabwe,  Robert Mugabe (94 years) also participated in this election. However, apparently he was still hurt  for being  forcibly taken down last year, making him speak out against his own party, ZANU-PF a few days before the election. He even encouraged people to vote for parties outside ZANU-PF. On election day, Mugabe chose not to issue any statement. Seeing this development and looking at the results of the General Elections, it is certainly not expected to increase the tension in Zimbabwe. Opposition parties should keep  sympathizers not to be anarchists, while the ruling party also provides an opportunity to recount if there is a demand. Anyone who becomes the President and any party that controls the parliament are expected to be a protector for all Zimbabweans.