President Emmerson Mnangagwa, 80, who seeks a second term, used his presidential powers to extend balloting to Thursday night at dozens of polling stations after voting was delayed by up to 10 hours in many areas.
His main challenger, Nelson Chamisa, a 45-year-old lawyer who narrowly lost a disputed election in 2018, described the voting as a sham, saying the delays were aimed at disenfranchising voters in his urban strongholds.
Ballot papers were still being printed late Wednesday, hours after voting should have closed. At other polling stations, counting of ballots began. Some frustrated voters slept at polling stations in the capital, Harare, snuggling under blankets or lighting fires to keep warm.
More No Comment
Watch: Luz del Mundo followers shed tears for their imprisoned leader
Robots steal the show as China displays its latest tech breakthroughs
Niger: Concert in support of the coup
Watch: Mud covers Alpine town in Italy after landslide
WATCH: Sicily's Mount Etna spews fiery lava and spits ash
WATCH: House destroyed in Donetsk from alleged Ukrainian shelling
WATCH: Indonesians parade 100-metre flag ahead of Independence Day
WATCH: Israelis protest for 32nd week against judicial overhaul plan
WATCH: Catastrophic wildfires lay waste to historic Maui town
Tens of thousands of rubber ducks race along Chicago River
Watch: heat reaches 46°C in Valencia, Spain
WATCH: Ukraine releases footage of Zaporizhzhia aftermath
Spain sweltering in third heatwave of the summer
Storm Hans washes away roads and floods homes in Norway and Sweden
Watch: house collapses into river in Alaska
Watch: Fans gather to remember Sinéad O'Connor in Ireland
Watch: protest at England's immigration barge
Watch: Blue whale found dead on Chilean beach
WATCH: Hollywood mourns The Exorcist director William Friedkin
Heavy rain causes widespread flooding in Slovenia