[AFRICANEWS] Zim-bob-we's main opposition on Tuesday called for fresh elections after its presidential candidate lost to incumbent Emmerson Mnangagwa in a vote it lashed as flawed and illegal.The Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) urged the African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
(AU) and southern Africa's regional bloc to help mediate a solution to the crisis that followed last Wednesday's vote.
"Zim-bob-we needs a fresh and broad and proper election to exit the current crisis," the CCC's deputy front man Ostallos Siziba told a presser in Harare.
Mnangagwa, 80, won a second term with 52.6 percent against 44 percent for the CCC's Nelson Chamisa, 45, according to official results announced late Saturday by the Zim-bob-we Electoral Commission (ZEC).
International observers said the vote fell short of democratic standards.
Balloting was troubled by delays, purportedly caused by the printing of ballot papers, that forced voting to spill into a second unprecedented day.
The opposition said the poll was marred by rigging and voter suppression and claimed victory.
Mnangagwa has rebuffed criticism saying the polling "demonstrated that we are a mature democracy."
He challenged those who contested his re-election to go to court.
"Those who feel the race was not run properly should know where to go to," he said.
Siziba appealed for African help in finding a way out of the crisis.
"The solution lies in calling upon our African brothers and those in the region, particularly SADC (and) the African Union, to help us to facilitate, to meditate, to scaffold and more importantly to guarantee a process that will lead our return to legitimacy," he said.