Harare, Zimbabwe (CNN)Zimbabwe's
pursuit of stability appeared uncertain Friday after the country's main
opposition leader said his party would challenge the results of the
presidential election, labeling them "fraudulent and illegal."
A
day after President Emmerson Mnangagwa was declared the winner of the
vote, Nelson Chamisa, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, told
a news conference the vote was "anything but a free and fair."
The
landmark vote -- Zimbabwe's first since the toppling of strongman
Robert Mugabe -- was being closely watched, with election observers and
foreign investors looking on to see if the country had shed its
previous reputation.
Opposition leader Nelson Chamisa says his party will challenge the election results.
Chamisa,
who at 40 is the country's youngest presidential candidate, said his
party was working "around the clock with a legal team" to put together a
plan of action following the results, but he did not give any details.
"As
far as we are concerned this presidential result is fraudulent,
illegal, illegitimate, and characterized by serious credibility gaps and
some serious legitimacy issues that we feel must be raised," Chamisa
said at the news briefing.
The
opposition leader's first attempt to hold a press conference Friday was
thwarted after police stormed the Harare hotel where he was scheduled
to speak, a development that was highly condemned by the incumbent leader, Mnangagwa.
