Call for fresh vote in Zimbabwe election
Opposition challenges vote results in court
HARARE, ZIMBABWE— Zimbabwe’s main opposition party on Friday filed a legal challenge to the results of the country’s first election without Robert Mugabe on the ballot, calling for a fresh vote or for their candidate Nelson Chamisa to be declared the winner.
The filing brings more uncertainty to a country that had hoped the peaceful vote would begin a new era but has been rocked by scenes of military in the streets and opposition supporters harassed and beaten.
The court now has 14 days to rule, and Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi said the inauguration, once planned for Sunday, “is on hold’ until then.
Lawyers for the Movement for Democratic Change party arrived at court less than an hour before the deadline to submit papers. “We have a good case and cause!” Chamisa said on Twitter. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has said President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the ruling ZANU-PF party won the July 30 election, with the president receiving 50.8 per cent of the vote and Chamisa receiving 44.3 per cent.
On Thursday, senior opposition figure Tendai Biti was charged with inciting public violence and declaring unofficial election results. Biti asserted before the commission’s official announcement that Chamisa was the real winner.
Biti fled to Zambia, where authorities denied asylum. In a court appearance Friday, Biti said he fled Zimbabwe because he felt his life was in danger.