ZANU PF has labelled Citizens Coalition for Change leader Nelson Chamisa a sore loser after the latter refused to acknowledge the just-ended general election results.
Chamisa, the main challenger to Zanu PF’s stranglehold on power, was defeated by President-elect Emmerson Mnangagwa who garnered 52.6 percent of the vote.
The victory grants Mnangagwa his second and final five-year term at the helm of the country.
Chamisa has refused to accept the results with his chief election agent refusing to sign the final results at the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) Command Center in Harare.
Addressing media in Harare, Sunday, Zanu PF spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa, referencing a previous newspaper article said Chamisa “had absolute confidence in the integrity of electoral systems in Zimbabwe. Today he is refusing to append his signature to the same system he was lauding so much. You have to be a man enough for a woman enough to accept that sometimes things do not go the way you want. We as Zanu PF know the pain of losing.”
This year’s general elections have followed a script of previous plebiscites which were disputed by the opposition.
The opposition has pointed out a number of electoral flaws in the election which they argue were in favour of Zanu PF.
In 2018 Chamisa, then under the MDC-Alliance umbrella party dragged Mnangagwa and ZEC to court seeking an overturn of election results.
Mutsvangwa said the refusal of Chamisa to accept the results is tantamount to ignoring the will of the electorate.
“We were disappointed that there seem to be misgivings about appending the signature of the V11. We really think that if people go into an election with the idea that if they do not win therefore results are not correct. It is not good because you are usurping the decision of the people. We as Zanu PF have no quarrel with the system. We are happy with the system,” said Mutsvangwa.