By James Gwati-The leader of the opposition CCC, Nelson Chamisa has refused to endorse Emmerson Mnangagwa as the elected President of Zimbabwe.
Zanu PF spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa told reporters Sunday that Chamisa did this by refusing to sign Presidential V11 forms soon after the presidential vote announcement.
Signing the V11 forms is an endorsement of the election results.
Zanu PF’s Emmerson Mnangagwa was announced the winner of the presidential election by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission last night.
ZEC officially declared Mnangagwa as the winner of the Zimbabwe 2023 presidential election, which took place on August 23-24.
Zec said Mnangagwa secured 2,350,711 votes, which translates to 52.6%, while Nelson Chamisa received 1 967 343, which translates to 44% of the total votes cast.
The announcement signifies that Mnangagwa will serve another five-year term as the President of Zimbabwe, concluding in August 2028. The declaration was made by Justice Priscilla Chigumba, the chairperson of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).
In response to the results, Advocate Thabani Mpofu, who represented Chamisa in the legal challenge of the 2018 presidential election results, urged the public to remain patient, stating that they would correct the outcome. He said:
Be calm Zim & maintain peace. As I said, this is the beginning of many beautiful things. ED loses against his own people & against his opponents. So how is he declared a winner? You can’t call this election a dog’s breakfast without insulting dogs. This shall be corrected.
Zimbabwe held elections on August 23, but voting delays led to an extension until August 24. International observers noted that despite a peaceful environment, the elections did not meet regional, continental, and international standards due to various irregularities. These included flaws in the delimitation process, late release of the Voters Roll, restrictive fees, disruption of opposition rallies, unconstitutional laws, disqualification of candidates, gender parity issues, concerns about judiciary independence, voter intimidation, controversial postal voting, and bias of state-owned media against opposition parties.