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Zimbabwe's High Court to Hear Opposition Challenge to Presidential Election


FILE - Tinomudaishe Chinyoka, one of the lawyers representing ZANU PF's Presidential candidate Emmerson Mnangagwa, arrives to file opposing papers at the Constitutional Court in Harare, Zimbabwe, Aug. 15, 2018.
FILE - Tinomudaishe Chinyoka, one of the lawyers representing ZANU PF's Presidential candidate Emmerson Mnangagwa, arrives to file opposing papers at the Constitutional Court in Harare, Zimbabwe, Aug. 15, 2018.

A hearing will be held Wednesday in Zimbabwe's Constitutional Court on the opposition party's challenge to last month's presidential election.

The Movement for Democratic Change has accused Zimbabwe's election commission of rigging the July 30 vote in favor of President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his ruling ZANU-PF party. Mnangagwa won nearly 51 percent of the vote to defeat MDC leader Nelson Chamisa, who received just over 44.3 percent.

Chamisa told reporters on Monday that the MDC has a solid case that election results were fraudulent, and was confident the court would order a new election.

Nelson Chamisa, Zimbabwe’s opposition leader, talking to reporters in Harare, Aug. 20, 2018.
Nelson Chamisa, Zimbabwe’s opposition leader, talking to reporters in Harare, Aug. 20, 2018.

When Chamisa's supporters took to the streets the day after the election commission declared Mnangagwa the winner to protest the results, police responded by using tear gas and live fire, killing six people.

The July 30 vote was the first time in decades that President Robert Mugabe's name was not on the ballot. The 94-year-old Mugabe was forced from office by a military takeover last year after nearly 40 years in power, surrendering the presidency to Mnangagwa, his vice president.

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