Zimbabwe Presidential Inauguration Delayed
The inauguration of Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been halted after a legal challenge by the opposition against the election result. MDC leader Nelson Chamisa says he has evidence to show that he was cheated out of the July 30 presidential vote.
His party says the poll was marred by “mammoth theft and fraud”, but the electoral commission insists that there was “no skulduggery”. Mr Mnangagwa won 50.8 per cent of the vote compared with Mr Chamisa’s 44.3 per cent.
“The inauguration is no longer going ahead as planned,” Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi said, after the opposition filed the challenge last Friday. Zimbabwe’s constitution allows a presidential candidate to legally challenge electoral results within seven days of a winner being declared.
The Constitutional Court now has 14 days to rule on the legal challenge by the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).