Zimbabwe says ‘nothing will stop’ election after rally blast
CHITUNGWIZA, Zimbabwe — The explosion at a campaign rally for Zimbabwe’s president that injured 49 people will not delay next month’s historic election, officials said Sunday, as a vice-president called the attack “terrorism” and said any frightened candidate would be provided with protection.
“Let me make it very clear that nothing will stop the elections in Zimbabwe, nothing at all,” Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga, who was lightly bruised in Saturday’s blast, told a rally outside the capital, Harare.
“That act of terrorism that happened in Bulawayo is nothing,” he added. But if contenders are “afraid and scared, we will give them security.”
Zimbabwe’s presidential candidates are not normally provided with security by the government. The protection at Chiwenga’s rally appeared no heavier than normal, with no security checks for those attending.