ZIMBABWEAN President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been re-elected for a second and final five-year term, officials announced late yesterday.

Within minutes, Promise Mkwananzi, a spokesman for opposition leader Nelson Chamisa’s Citizens Coalition for Change Party, said they would reject the results as “hastily assembled without proper verification.”

Mr Mnangagwa’s victory, announced 48 hours after polls closed, meant the Zanu-PF party kept the control it has held for all 43 years of Zimbabwe’s history since ending white minority rule in 1980.

Zimbabwe has had just two leaders in that time, the long-ruling Robert Mugabe and Mr Mnangagwa.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said Mr Mnangagwa, nicknamed “The Crocodile” from his days as a guerilla fighter, won 52.6 per cent of the votes in the midweek election, against 44 per cent for Mr Chamisa.

The result faces close scrutiny after international election observers raised questions over the environment in the build-up to the vote and pointed to an atmosphere of intimidation against Chamisa supporters.

The head of the African Union mission, former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan, said they had particular concerns over Forever Associates of Zimbabwe, a ruling party affiliate, whose activities should be declared “criminal offences.”