“They stole your voice and your vote but never your trust. It’s a blatant and colossal fraud,” Chamisa said. Wrote Sunday in XFormerly known as Twitter.
Addressing the media at a news conference later, Chamisa said Zimbabwe was suffering from a “vicious cycle of disputed elections” and accused Mnangagwa, who first took office following a military takeover in 2017, of a “coup” against the ballot.
“You are not the last Zimbabwean; You are not the only Zimbabwean,” Chamisa said, addressing Mnangagwa, who heads the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front, or ZANU-PF. “We are all Zimbabweans, we all count. We all matter and we will make sure we take our stand.
But the opposition leader, who contested the presidency in 2018, stopped short of pledging to formally contest the election results. Under Zimbabwe’s constitution, candidates wishing to challenge the final tally must file a petition with the Constitutional Court within seven days of the commission announcing the winner.
Instead, Samisa, who leads the Citizens Alliance for Change, said the party and its supporters “have a million tools at our disposal to achieve our end”.
The controversial vote comes as Zimbabwe, in southern Africa, has been plagued by soaring inflation and widespread corruption, partly the result of decades of economic mismanagement under former president Robert Mugabe, who founded ZANU-PF.
Mugabe ruled for 37 years before the military overthrew him in a coup and installed Mnangagwa. The new leader has vowed to tackle Zimbabwe’s devastating economic problems – but both inflation and unemployment remain sky high. And prominent figures in Nangagwa’s constituency have been implicated in high-profile corruption cases.
Late last year, the US imposed sanctions on four people, including Mnangagwa’s son, for disrupting and undermining democracy in Zimbabwe.
“We call on the government of Zimbabwe to take meaningful steps to create a peaceful, prosperous and politically vibrant Zimbabwe and address the root causes of many of Zimbabwe’s ills: corrupt elites and the abuse of the country’s institutions for their personal gain,” According to a statement released by the Treasury Department Declares prohibitions.
Farai Mukupete, 58, is a Chamisa supporter and member of the Zimbabwean diaspora in Britain. When contacted by phone, he said he was dismayed by what he described as a “stolen election”.
“He is enriching himself and his family,” Mukubet said of Mangagwa. “He is building an empire for himself and his family from the resources of this country.”
Mugupade said some Zimbabweans are starting to look more favorably on Mugabe than the current president. “Even though they hated Mugabe in the last years of his rule, people are starting to say that despite all his failures, he is much better than Mnangagwa,” he said.
External visitors, including the European Union Criticized the Zimbabwean authorities To foster a “climate of fear” around the elections, including intimidation of voters and the arrest of independent observers ahead of the elections.
“During the electoral process, fundamental freedoms were increasingly curtailed … which resulted in a climate of fear,” the EU mission said in a statement on Friday. “The electoral process fell short of several regional and international standards, including equality, universality and transparency.”
Nkululeko Sibanda, a Samisa campaign worker in Harare, said the level of disorganization and violations he witnessed at polling stations was “shocking”. In a phone interview from the capital, he said he spent much of the second day of voting arguing with election officials.
“It’s unbelievable,” he said. “My hope is that ZANU-PF will come to its senses and realize that it cannot run this country.”
On Sunday, Mnangagwa denied engaging in fraud to win the election. On stage X, he said his victory was “a testament to the power of unity and progress”.
“Together, we will build a brighter future for Zimbabwe,” he wrote.
