ZIMBABWE: Opposition rejects court’s decision to uphold Mnangagwa’s election victory

Zimbabwe’s main opposition party leader Nelson Chamisa, 40, of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) alliance has rejected a court ruling on election challenge, saying he has a legitimate claim to lead the country.

The election victory of President Emmerson Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe was earlier upheld by a Constitutional Court paving the way for the inauguration of the newly elected leader.

However, Chamisa said that the July 30’s vote was marred by “mammoth theft and fraud”.

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“I have a legitimate claim that I should lead Zimbabwe,” Chamisa told reporters at a news conference in the capital Harare on Saturday.

After unanimously dismissing the bid by the MDC to annul the results of last month’s presidential election, Chief Justice Luke Malaba said the party failed to prove fraud allegations during the elections.

“The application is dismissed with costs … Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa is duly declared the winner of the presidential elections held on the 30th of July 2018,” Malaba said in his ruling.
Reacting after the court decision, Mnangagwa, 75, said he was “not surprised by the court’s decision” and called for unity and peace.

“Nelson Chamisa, my door is open and my arms are outstretched, we are one nation, and we must put our nation first. Let us all now put our differences behind us. It is time to move forward together,” Mnangagwa wrote on Twitter shortly after the court announced its ruling.

 

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