Former Zimbabwe president, Robert Mugabe, has declared that he would not vote for Emmerson Mnangagwa, his successor, in the country’s [presidential election scheduled for Monday.
Speaking on Sunday at his Blue Roof mansion in the country’s capital of Harare, Mugabe said it would be difficult for him to vote Mnangagwa, who he described as “his tormentor.”
The first post-independence Zimbabwean leader said he would rather make his choice from what he described as a “long list” of candidates.
“For the first time ever we have now a long list of aspirants to power”, AFP reports.
“I cannot vote for those who tormented me… I will make my choice among the other 22 (candidates), but it is a long list.”
The 94-year oldformer teacher, who still seems to be hurt by his ouster from the government, berated the ZANU-PF political party and the Zimbabwean military for the roles they played in his removal last November.
He insists that his removal was a coup.
“I was sacked from the party I founded, ZANU-PF,” he said. “I was regarded now as an enemy, but… how come that I am treated now as a nonentity, an opponent?”
Zimbabwe goes to the polls Monday in its first election since Mugabe was forced to resign last November after 37 years in power, with allegations mounting of voter fraud and predictions of a disputed result.
“It was a thorough coup d’etat, you don’t roll… the tanks without your army and units deployed,” he said, adding it was “utter nonsense” that he wanted Grace (his wife) as his successor.
Zimbabwe’s military generals shocked the world last year when they seized control and ushered Mnangagwa to power after Mugabe allegedly tried to position his wife Grace, 53, to be his successor.
President Mnangagwa, Mugabe’s former ally in the ruling ZANU-PF party, faces opposition leader Nelson Chamisa of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in a landmark vote for the southern African nation.