Harare - Zimbabwe's main opposition
leader, Nelson Chamisa, filed a court challenge on Friday
against President Emmerson Mnangagwa's election victory, he
wrote on Twitter, a move that would delay Mnangagwa's
inauguration that had been slated for this Sunday.
"Our legal team successfully filed our court papers. We have
a good case and cause!!" Chamisa tweeted.
Under the constitution, a losing presidential candidate has
seven days to challenge the result from when a winner is
declared. The Constitutional Court must rule within 14 days and
Mnangagwa's inauguration would have to wait for the outcome of
Chamisa's challenge.
Earlier this month, Mnangagwa secured a comfortable
victory, according to results from the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission, polling 2.46 million votes against 2.15 million for
the 40-year-old Chamisa. The opposition said the result was
rigged.
The election, the first since the army's removal of
94-year-old ex-president Robert Mugabe last November, passed off
relatively smoothly but its aftermath revealed the deep rifts in
Zimbabwean society and the instinctive heavy-handedness of the
security forces.
Two days after the vote, six people were killed in an army
crackdown on protests against the victory by Mnangagwa's ruling
ZANU-PF party, a reminder that Zimbabwe will struggle to repair
its image as a nation known for repression and economic
collapse.