HARARE: Zimbabwe’s top court has ruled that veteran Robert Mugabe won a fiercely contested presidential election fair and square, paving way for a stadium-style inauguration tomorrow.
Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku said yesterday the July 31 elections were “free, fair and credible.”
“Robert Gabriel Mugabe was duly elected president of the Republic of Zimbabwe and is hereby declared the winner of the said election,” Chidyausiku said.
The declaration — despite widespread allegations of vote rigging — clears the way for 89-year-old Mugabe to hold his high-profile inauguration for another five-year term.
“The constitutional court has finally issued its decision. In doing so it has brought the whole electoral process to an end,” Mugabe’s lawyer Terrence Hussein said.
“It has brought stability. It has brought certainty. We can now all move on. I think we now know who our president is for the next five years.”
Mugabe has ruled the country for 33 years since independence from Britain.
Mugabe’s swearing-in had been delayed after Morgan Tsvangirai challenged the election results in a petition to the constitutional court.
The opposition leader later retracted the case, claiming he would not get a fair shake from the court.
Mugabe’s swearing in promises to be more high profile than in previous years, a show of power perhaps designed to confer legitimacy amid persistent allegations of electoral fraud.
The ceremony’s organisers said around 40 heads of state have been invited to the event, to be held in a 60,000-seater sports stadium on the outskirts of the capital.
Thousands of Mugabe’s supporters are expected to troop in from across the country.
Zimbabwe’s electoral commission declared Mugabe the winner with 61 percent of the ballot, against his main rival Tsvangirai’s 34 percent.
The elections were to end a shaky power-sharing government formed by Mugabe and Tsvangirai four years ago to avoid a tip into conflict following a bloody presidential run-off election.
Tsvangirai condemned the election as “a farce” and “a massive fraud” and demanded a forensic audit of the election results.
Among other complaints, Tsvangirai queried the unusually high number of voters who were turned away from urban areas which are considered strongholds of his party.
He also complained that suspected rural supporters of his party were ordered by Mugabe party youth to feign illiteracy and vote in the presence of police and electoral officers.
In a surprise U-turn on Friday, Tsvangirai withdrew his petition saying he would not get a fair hearing. He said the courts had frustrated his efforts for the release of election materials to use as evidence.
But the constitutional court went ahead and made a ruling on the case. AFP
