Zimbabweans gathered on Sunday to pray for peace ahead of general elections scheduled to take place on 23 August 2023 amid fears of vote rigging and violence.
Dozens of worshippers gathered for a service at a church facing a dusty street lined with market stalls in Harare’s oldest township of Mbare.
One of the worshippers, Apostolic Faith Mission pastor Edson Mukaro, said:
We are praying for a peaceful environment. We are just encouraging our people to be objective, peaceful, and to do everything in order.
Zimbabwe has a long history of disputed elections, marred by violence and allegations of vote rigging.
In 2018, the main opposition presidential candidate, Nelson Chamisa, rejected the poll outcome after the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) declared the incumbent, Emmerson Mnangagwa the winner with just over 50% of the vote.
Chamisa claimed the results were rigged and took up the matter to the Constitutional Court but the judges ruled that he had failed to provide evidence to back the allegations.
Violence erupted a day after the elections and the army opened fire on opposition protesters, killing six people.
Chamisa, a pastor who is in his mid-forties, is the main challenger to Mnangagwa.
Politics and religion are often intertwined in Zimbabwe where Pentecostal/evangelical and indigenous churches have openly sided with Mnangagwa’s ZANU PF.
Source Pindula
