Opposition leader Chamisa holds rally in Harare

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(20 Feb 2022) Zimbabwe's leading opposition figure Nelson Chamisa drew thousands of cheering supporters on Sunday to his first political rally since forming a new party weeks ago, as the country gears up for elections that had been postponed due to COVID-19. • Chamisa formed the Citizens Coalition for Change party in January, making a break from the country's long-time opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, or MDC. • The 44-year-old lawyer and pastor lost a disputed presidential election in 2018 to President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the country's Constitutional Court threw out his challenge to the result. • The courts later ruled that Chamisa was not the legitimate leader of the MDC, a decision that handed control of the party to rivals seen as close to Mnangagwa. • Chamisa was no longer the leader of the MDC's members of parliament and was not able to use the party's headquarters or access state funding to the party. • Many wore the new party's yellow T-shirts and hats, abandoning the red colour associated with the MDC. • Politically volatile Zimbabwe is to hold elections to fill more than 130 vacant parliamentary and council seats on March 26. • The elections are largely viewed as a test for next year's general election. • While Chamisa's party is new, the problems that have prevented the opposition from taking over power in Zimbabwe remain. • These include arrests, detentions, beatings, harassment and alleged partisan security forces that act in favour of the ruling party. • Chamisa on Sunday also repeated accusations that the country's elections management body plans to rig the upcoming elections as it has allegedly done in the past. • The body denies the allegations. • • Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork • Twitter: / ap_archive • Facebook: / aparchives • Instagram: / apnews • • • You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...

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