Pretoria: Leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T) – Morgan Tsvangirai – says his party will exhaust all legal remedies to challenge the results of the July 31 elections, as his long-time rival President Robert Mugabe and his Zanu-PF bagged a landslide victory.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission on Saturday announced that Mugabe won the presidential election with 61 percent of the vote, compared with 34 percent for Tsvangirai.

The other three presidential aspirants — Welshman Ncube, Dumiso Dabengwa and Kisinoti Mukwazhe — respectively obtained 2.68 percent, 0.74 percent and 0.29 percent of the vote.

Zanu-PF secured 160 of the 210 parliamentary seats, while MDC-T won only 49, a big plunge from the party’s 100 seats in the 2008 elections.

A total of 3 480 047 voters cast their ballots in the presidential election in a poll proclaimed by many local and foreign observers as credible, free and fair.

Tsvangirai, Prime Minister of the Zimbabwe coalition government, said at a press briefing at his Harare home on Saturday that his party will go to court and present evidence on why they are rejecting the elections, which he said were fraudulent.

He said that his party will not join government institutions under Mugabe and Zanu-PF rule.

On participation in parliament, Tsvangirai said that they will decide at the right time.

The MDC-T has alleged vote rigging in the one-day poll, a view that has been dismissed by most local and international observers such as those from the African Union (AU), the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (Comesa).

Mugabe campaigned on the basis of his party’s pro-poor policies such as land reform and redistribution of the country’s vast mineral wealth. These policies are already being implemented.

On the other hand, Tsvangirai’s campaign was premised on job creation from promised western investment.