Zimbabwe’s opposition coalition has filed a legal challenge to results of the country’s recent election, in a move that delays the inauguration of Emmerson Mnangagwa as president of Zimbabwe.
The MDC alliance filed their paperwork with Zimbabwe’s Constitutional Court on Friday, alleging the result of the July 30 vote had been rigged in favor of incumbent Mnangagwa, the leader of the ruling ZANU-PF party, Al Jazeera reported.
“Our legal team successfully filed our court papers. We have a good case,” MDC leader Nelson Chamisa said on Twitter.
Zimbabwe’s electoral commission has said Mnangagwa won the election, the first without longtime former president Robert Mugabe on the ballot form, garnering 50.8% of the vote against 44.3% for Chamisa.
Chamisa has claimed he won 56% of votes and called the election “fraudulent, illegal and illegitimate.”
“The MDC alliance say some of the evidence they have shows forms that have been tampered with, figures changed here and there—and they’re going to present that in court,” said Al Jazeera’s Haru Mutasa, reporting from Harare.
Judges have 14 days to rule on the case, delaying the inauguration of Mnangagwa which was scheduled for Sunday.
EU observers said the ZANU-PF candidate had benefitted from an “un-level playing field” and some voter intimidation, though international monitors largely praised the conduct of the election.
CAPTION: Emmerson Mnangagwa
