Harare, Zimbabwe, August 11 (Infosplusgabon) - Zimbabwe's main opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Alliance, on Friday filed papers at the Constitutional Court challenging the results of the 30 July presidential election with its candidate, Nelson Chamisa, tweeting that they have a "good case and cause". "Our legal team successfully filed our court papers.we have a good case and cause!!" Chamisa tweeted after the party's legal team filed the papers shortly before the deadline. The state broadcaster, Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) reported on its website that," After keeping journalists waiting at the Constitutional Court in Harare today (Friday), the MDC Alliance finally approached the Constitutional Court to lodge their papers challenging the results of the 2018 presidential election where President-elect Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa won the presidency." ZBC said the team of lawyers, including Sylvester Hashiti and Chris Mhike, and MDC Alliance Chief Elections Officer Jameson Timba, filed the papers. Mnangagwa won 50.8% of the votes while Chamisa got 44.3%, according to the Electoral Commission. There were 23 candidates. 1 / 5
The MDC Alliance claims there was ballot stuffing and falsification of figures among other complaints. It wants Chamisa to be declared winner of the 30 July election. The court will have 14 days to make a ruling. Chamisa said the morning after polls closed last Monday that he was winning "resoundingly" and he was ready to form the next government. "Winning resoundingly...we now have results from the majority of the over 10,000 polling stations. We ve done exceedingly well. Awaiting ZEC to perform their constitutional duty to officially announce the people s election results and we are ready to form the next gvt.#godisinit," he tweeted on 31 July. Later he also described the results as declared by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission as "fake" and "fraudulent". Another key leader of the party, Tendai Biti also said they had won the election. 2 / 5
Supporters of MDC Alliance in Harare poured into the streets in a demonstration that saw them erecting barricades, burning tyres and election bill boards of Mnangagwa. They also torched vehicles. Riot police and the military descended heavily on them leading to six deaths. Elections observers and human rights groups have condemned the security agencies. With the filing of papers challenging the results, the scheduled inauguration of president-elect Mnangagwa on Sunday is on hold. The state-owned Herald newspaper said the Constitutional court will have to determine whether the president-elect has been elected correctly and if so, after the judgment has been passed, the inauguration has to happen within 48 hours. The newspaper said the Constitutional Court can nullify the results in which case there has to be a fresh election within 60 days. The court s decision on the matter is final. 3 / 5
Mnangagwa himself has said although the inauguration processes were going ahead as planned for Sunday, that could stop if the MDC-Alliance filed its petition on Friday. At the moment, we are not moving forward because according to the Constitution we should wait for seven days after declaration of the results, so that if there is anyone who wants to appeal against the results, they do so, Mnangagwa said. He said the law stipulates that after they file their appeal, "the courts should urgently hear the matter within 14 days. The courts may take one day or three days but that has to be within the 14 days". This is the first election after the removal of long-serving President Robert Mugabe in November last year. FIN/INFOSPLUSGABON/AZA/ GABON 2018 4 / 5
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