Divisions cost Zimbabwe opposition vote

Chamisa has said the MDC will take legal action to overturn the election, saying it will “use all legal and constitutional means” to challenge the outcome. He insists that the MDC’s own tally of the vote shows he won 56 percent of the vote, compared with the 44.3 percent the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission says he got. Mnangagwa won 50.8 percent of ballots cast, according to the ZEC.

Local and Western observers have cast doubt on the fairness of the vote, but haven’t commented yet on the counting and verification process. David Coltart, a former senator for the alliance, said on Twitter on Monday that the MDC has assembled “an outstanding team of lawyers” to challenge the vote in court.

Regardless of the outcome of the legal action, Chamisa’s strong showing in the election signifies he’ll have a role to play in Zimbabwean politics over the next five years, author and former journalist Geoff Nyarota said.

“He has a proven following of almost equal magnitude to Mnangagwa and an important role to play in the future of our country if he chooses to present himself as a humble and unassuming statesman,” said Nyarota, a Nieman Foundation scholar and US-based journalism lecturer since his exile from Zimbabwe in 2003. “If he doesn’t, he’ll antagonize even his own supporters.” – Bloomberg

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