Zimbabwe's opposition leader insisted on Friday that he won the country's landmark election, rejecting the results as "fraudulent" and vowing to challenge them in court.
"We won this election and we are ready to form the next government," said Nelson Chamisa, after official results showed him losing to President Emmerson Mnangagwa, a former ally of ousted autocrat Robert Mugabe.The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) declared 75-year-old Emmerson Mnangagwa victorious in the early hours of Friday with 50.8% of the vote -- just enough to avoid a run-off against Chamisa, who scored 44.3%.
Chamisa charged that there had been flagrant rigging under ZEC, a body which under Mugabe was frequently accused of helping to fix elections in favour of the ruling ZANU-PF party.
"Mr Mugabe was at least sophisticated," Chamisa complained.
"We are not accepting fake results, We are not accepting this fiction," he added at a press conference, which was briefly broken up by riot police before a minister ordered them to stand down.
"We want a proper result to be announced. We will pursue all means necessary, legal, constitutional, to make sure we protect the people's vote."
Opposition allegations of foul play in Monday's election had already sparked a deadly crackdown on protesters in Harare on Wednesday when troops opened fire, killing six.
ZEC officials have robustly denied allegations of bias or rigging, and international observers have largely praised the conduct of election day itself.
But EU monitors said that Mnangagwa, who enjoyed tacit military support and control of state resources, benefited from an "un-level playing field".
The Zimbabwe Election Support Network, a non-partisan observer group, estimated Chamisa could have won up to 47.8% of the vote based on its monitoring work.
President Cyril Ramaphosa of neighbouring South Africa was the first key partner to congratulate Mnangagwa, calling on all Zimbabweans to accept the result.
Mnangagwa, who was chosen to lead ZANU-PF in November after the brief military intervention that deposed Mugabe, hailed the victory as a "new beginning" for Zimbabwe.
Soldiers and police came out in Harare in force on Thursday after the deadly unrest, clearing the city-centre, but by Friday the streets and markets were crowded as usual.
In the suburb of Mbare, jubilant ZANU-PF supporters waved party banners as music blared from a car.
"This is a new Zimbabwe, we are happy," said Tendai Mugadzi, a 32-year-old IT specialist.
He was untroubled that Mnangagwa had won by a wafer-thin margin.
"It just shows that this was a free and fair election," he said.
ZANU-PF also won a large majority in parliamentary elections held alongside the presidential vote.
Chamisa urged opposition supporters to refrain from violence, stressing he would challenge the results through the courts -- though such a move appears to offer the MDC little hope of overturning the outcome.
Since independence from Britain in 1980, Zimbabwe has known only two presidents -- Mugabe, who ruled with an iron fist for 37 years, and his onetime right-hand man Mnangagwa.
Mnangagwa was allegedly involved in voter intimidation during the 2008 elections when then opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai pulled out of the run-off after at least 200 of his supporters were killed in attacks.
The new president had promised a free and fair vote that would turn the page on years of brutal repression, end Zimbabwe's international isolation and attract badly needed foreign investment.
He faces massive challenges in his promise to restore an economy that Mugabe left in disastrous shape, presiding over the seizure of white-owned farms, a hyperinflationary surge and an investment exodus.
