Zimbabwe's opposition moves to court to challenge election results

Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) alliance moved to court on Friday to lodge a bid to overturn the results of the presidential election, which it alleges was rigged to ensure victory for Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Jameson Timba, a former MDC lawmaker, confirmed to reporters that an appeal would be filed as he walked through the entrance of the Constitutional Court in Harare, accompanied by party lawyers.

Zimbabwe's opposition moves to court to challenge election results

The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) alleges that President Emmerson Mnangagwa's slender victory in Zimbabwe's first election since the ousting of Rober Mugabe was rigged by the ruling Zanu-PF party and the election commission.

Mnangagwa, who is seeking to reverse Zimbabwe's economic isolation and attract desperately needed foreign investment, had vowed the elections would turn a page on Mugabe's repressive 37-year rule.

International monitors largely praised the conduct of the election itself, although EU observers said that Mnangagwa, a former Mugabe ally, benefitted from an "un-level playing field" and some voter intimidation.

Zimbabwe's opposition moves to court to challenge election results

Mnangagwa won the presidential race with 50.8% of the vote - just enough to avoid a run-off against the MDC's Nelson Chamisa, who scored 44.3%.

Chamisa has called the election results as "falsified and inflated" to ensure Mnangagwa won.

The MDC had until Friday to lodge its appeal - seven days after the results were announced.

Party lawyer Thanbani Mpofu last week said that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission's figures "grossly, mathematically fail to tally".

He said the party had evidence "for the purposes, not just of mounting a credible and sustainable challenge, but that will yield a vacation of the entire process."