The Zimbabwe opposition leader has vowed to challenge the election result after insisting his party won the popular vote.

The electoral commission announced last night that President Emmerson Mnangagwa, a former enforcer of long-time leader Robert Mugabe, and head of the Zanu-PF Party, had narrowly won Monday's poll with 50.8% of the vote.

But Nelson Chamisa, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), has told Sky News he believes his party won the popular vote and pledged to secure a majority in parliament by challenging the electoral commission.

"The politics of violence and terror, the politics of tanks and guns on the streets is totally unacceptable," he said, accusing the ruling party of "electoral shenanigans" and stealing the "will of people".

President Mnangagwa has said people are free to approach the courts if they wish to challenge the result, which he says was arrived at in "a free, fair and credible election".


Image: Mr Chamisa says he has evidence the election was rigged

Mr Chamisa, who received 44% of the vote, said the opposition had evidence of vote rigging but the electoral commission "didn't want to listen to us".

He said Mr Mnangagwa should acknowledge that MDC "won this election" and said the president was "in cahoots" with the electoral commission "to try and manipulate and alter the will of the people".

Telling Sky News "we will not be intimidated", Mr Chamisa pledged to "pursue all means necessary, legal, constitutional, to make sure we protect the people's vote".

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Earlier, riot police broke up an MDC news conference and chased away reporters without explanation, but the event was later allowed to go ahead.

With all 10 provinces declared, the Zanu-PF leader gained 2.46 million votes (50.8%) against 2.15 million (44.3%) for the opposition leader.

Image: Emmerson Mnangagwa pictured at a campaign rally before polling day

The election is the first since dictator Mugabe resigned last year, ending 30 years of leadership.

Violence surrounding the election has seen the military sweep in and use live rounds to disperse protests over alleged vote rigging, leading to several deaths.

Elections meant to restore trust in Zimbabwe after decades of Mugabe rule have instead seen familiar scenes of violence and claims of vote rigging.

There were conflicting accounts as to who was responsible for the bloodshed in the capital Harare, which followed opposition protests after it was announced Zanu-PF had won a majority in parliament.

Mr Mnangagwa blamed the MDC, saying "it is not entirely true protesters were not armed".

'Out, out, out!' - Police break up news conference

Mr Chamisa, a lawyer and pastor, blamed Zimbabwe's "violent government", saying: "We have unarmed civilians being attacked. Is that normal even in a banana republic?"