Zimbabwean opposition rejects presidential election result

The Zimbabwean opposition leader on Friday refused to recognize the incumbent's victory in this week's presidential election.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) announced Thursday that Zanu-PF party candidate Emmerson Mnangagwa, who came to power after Robert Mugabe was forced from office last year, won a majority of the votes, but Nelson Chamisa, running for the opposition MDC Alliance, rejects to accept the result, Efe reported.

"We won this election and we are ready to form the next government", Chamisa said during a press conference in Harare.

He said that the opposition has evidence to challenge the election results in court.

"The ZEC scandal of releasing unverified fake results is regrettable," Chamisa tweeted earlier Friday.

"ZEC denied our election agent access to results before the announcement. ZEC must release proper and verified results endorsed by parties. The level of opaqueness, truth deficiency, moral decay & values deficit is baffling," Chamisa wrote.

According to the official results, the 75-year-old Mnangagwa gained 50.8 percent of the vote against Chamisa's 44.3 percent.

Mnangagwa thanked those who voted for him, saying that he was "humbled to be elected President of the Second Republic of Zimbabwe."

"Though we may have been divided at the polls, we are united in our dreams. This is a new beginning. Let us join hands, in peace, unity and love, and together build a new Zimbabwe for all," he said.

Zimbabweans voted Monday in the first presidential election since 1980, when the country became independent, not to include Mugabe, ousted last year after 37 years in power.

--IANS

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