President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Sunday morning rejected allegations by the opposition that the 2023 presidential election was rigged in his favour.

He also said observer missions that criticised the country’s laws “overstepped” their mandate.

Mnangagwa addressed reporters at State House the morning after the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) announced him as the winner with 52.6% of the poll, beating CCC’s Nelson Chamisa’s 44%.

Asked to respond to allegations by his competitors that the election was shameful and neither free nor fair, Mnangagwa said:

“I can assure you that I did not conduct the elections. I competed with them in this race to win the elections.

“Those who feel the race was not run fairly, should know where to go to complain.

Zimbabwe’s 2023 Harmonised Elections were criticised by the SADC observer mission, which said some parts of the electoral process fell short of standards. SEOM head Nevers Mumba said: