Zimbabweans on Wednesday began voting in a closely-watched presidential and legislative elections.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who came to power after a coup that deposed late ruler Robert Mugabe in 2017 is seeking re-election, as his main challenger Nelson Chamisa, is the leader of yellow-coloured Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) party.

Voting stations will close at 7:00 pm (1700 GMT), as  the final results is expected to be decleared within five days.

In Mbare, originally known as Harari, which is a suburb in the south of Harare, in Zimbabwe, voters started to queue early in the morning outside more than a dozen large green tents set up as polling stations on a dusty field facing rundown apartment blocks and empty wooden market stands.

As the sun rose, some used light from their mobile phones to search for their name on voters' rolls hanging outside the tents to make sure they were at the right polling stations.

A woman in her thirties, Diana Office, told reporters that she arrived two hours before polls were due to open to avoid queues.

"It's important for me to vote," she said. Asked if she was hopeful things would improve after the elections, she laughed, resting her head on the back of a friend queing in front of her.

"No," she said. "I'm just here to exercise my right only."