Zimbabwe’s opposition challenges election results in court




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HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) – Zimbabwe’s main opposition party is filing a legal challenge to the results of the country’s first election without Robert Mugabe on the ballot.

Lawyers for the Movement for Democratic Change party have arrived at court less than an hour before closing time to submit papers alleging the July 30 vote was rigged.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has said President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the ruling ZANU-PF party won the election.

Mnangagwa, an ex-vice president and longtime confidant of former leader Mugabe, says he wants to make Zimbabwe more open and democratic.

However, soldiers opened fire during opposition protests in Harare on Aug. 1, with six people killed, and foreign governments and human rights activists have expressed concern about reports of opposition supporters being targeted by security forces since then.