Zimbabwe's main opposition leader says he respectfully rejects a court ruling upholding President Emmerson Mnangagwa's narrow election win and called his upcoming inauguration "false."
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Nelson Chamisa's comments come a day after Zimbabwe's constitutional court unanimously rejected the opposition's claims of vote-rigging and said the opposition did not bring "sufficient and credible evidence."
Chamisa said "we have the right to peaceful protest", and that other routes will be pursued now that the legal one has reached an end.
"Change is coming," he said. "Political doors are going to be opened very soon."
Last month's peaceful election was seen as a chance for Zimbabwe to move on from Robert Mugabe's repressive 37-year-rule.
Now Chamisa alleges "a new persecution" after a deadly crackdown on the opposition.
The 40-year-old opposition leader said he won the election and that the southern African nation needs fundamental reforms that cannot be resolved by five more years of "vacant leadership."
The 75-year-old Mnangagwa, a former Mugabe enforcer who has tried to restyle himself as a reformer, appealed for calm after the court ruling and in a Twitter post told Chamisa "my door is open and my arms are outstretched."
Zimbabwe's electoral commission had declared Mnangagwa the winner of the July 30 balloting with 50.8 percent of the vote.
It later revised it to 50.6 percent, citing an "error" but arguing it was not significant enough to invalidate the win. It said Chamisa received 44.3 percent.
Mnangagwa, who took power in November after Mugabe stepped down under military pressure, called the election Zimbabwe's most transparent and credible ever.
The government badly needed a credible vote to help end its status as a global pariah, have international sanctions lifted and open the door to investment in an economy that collapsed under Mugabe.
Zimbabweans now await the final reports from dozens of Western observers invited into the country for the first time in nearly two decades.
The observers noted few issues on election day but expressed concern over the harassment of the opposition that followed.
Six people were killed two days after the vote when the military swept into the capital, Harare, to disperse protests.
Mnangagwa has said an inquiry would look into the deaths after his inauguration.
His inauguration is to take place on Sunday.
Australian Associated Press