On Sunday, Zimbabwe's opposition said it would challenge the results of "sham" weekend by-elections that could give the ruling party a majority large enough to change the constitution.

The South African country was scheduled to hold nine by-elections on Saturday. Still, in the chaotic run-up to the vote, most opposition candidates were removed from electoral lists by courts.

PHOTO | COURTESY Zimbabwe's opposition leader

President Emmerson Mnangagwa's ZANU-PF party is only 10 seats away from obtaining a two-thirds majority in parliament, allowing it to amend the constitution.

"The ill-fated by-elections are a sham," the main opposition party, the Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC), said in a statement on Sunday, describing it as "a judicial coup" and "an undeniable affront against the constitution of Zimbabwe".' "Accordingly, we will be filing a formal complaint to the judicial service commission," it said.

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In an August nationwide election, Mnangagwa, 81, was re-elected, and his ZANU-PF party won 177 of the 280 national assembly seats, with the CCC taking 104

However, 14 CCC lawmakers were expelled from parliament two months later, and nine by-elections were called. The remaining five seats are decided through proportional representation.

Sengezo Tshabangu, an obscure political figure, declared himself the CCC's "interim secretary general," claiming that the 14 were no longer party members and thus could not retain their seats.

Former preacher Nelson Chamisa, leader of the CCC, protested that Tshabangu was not a party member and that no expulsions had been agreed upon. Nonetheless, the ZANU-PF parliament speaker ordered new elections.