HARARE – Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) leader Nelson Chamisa has adamantly declared himself winner of Zimbabwe’s poll as he vowed weekend to form a government inside the next five years.

He was addressing dozens of journalists and members of the Zimbabwean civil society in Harare in the wake of an election he has described as a gigantic fraud.

Zanu PF candidate and incumbent president Emmerson Mnangagwa was declared winner with 52,6 percent of the total vote while the opposition chief polled 44 percent, according results announced by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) on Saturday.

The poll victory has earned Mnangagwa another five-year term at the helm of the country’s affairs.

His opposition nemesis vowed he would form the next government.

“There’s going to be change in Zimbabwe, whether Zanu PF people want it or not.

“We will not wait for five years, there has to be change now,” Chamisa said.

Chamisa accused ZEC of announcing “doctored” results.

“Let me say that the electoral body, ZEC regrettably and once again failed to perform its constitutional mandate by not announcing the correct and accurate result,” Chamisa said.

He said his party had “genuine” results gleaned from V11 forms secured by party agents from polling stations countrywide.

Chamisa accused Mnangagwa’s spooky group, Forever Associates of Zimbabwe (FAZ), for meddling with the poll to deliver a false victory to the Zimbabwe strongman.

He said voters faced intimidation in parts of rural Mashonaland provinces with some failing to cast their ballots.

Chamisa said Mnangagwa was fond of performing a coup.

“Mnangagwa has performed a coup since 2008, a coup on the ballot; 2017 a coup on elected leader; 2018 coup on ballot.

“He has repeated again, 2023 a coup on the ballot. You can’t survive these too many times. This time no further, we’ve drawn a line in the sand,” he said.

On Sunday, Mnangagwa rejected criticism that has followed his victory saying those aggrieved by the poll outcome should exhaust legal channels to challenge them.

The polls were widely condemned by international observers as lacking in meeting Zimbabwe’s constitutional dictates and benchmarks set by regional and global organisations over the running of credible polls.