Photo: xinhua

A voter gets his ballot at a polling station in Harare, capital of Zimbabwe.

MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai has dismissed Wednesday's elections as a "huge farce" saying he has since met with the AU Observer mission chair Olesugun Obasanjo to voice his concerns over the manner in which the poll was conducted.

Addressing journalists at his party offices in Harare Thursday, the MDC-T leader Tsvangirai said the election was "illegitimate" adding that the ball now rests squarely with the AU and SADC.

"The election has been a huge farce. Its credibility has been marred by administrative and legal violations which affect the legitimacy of its outcome," he said.

"I have met with the chair of the AU observer mission, former Nigerian President Olesugun Obasanjo, head of the SADC observer mission and I have given a diplomatic briefing. The message we have given is that this is not a credible election. It does not reflect the will of the people of Zimbabwe.

"The election has been heavily manipulated. In our view, the outcome of this election is illegitimate. But more importantly, the shoddy manner in which it has been conducted and the consequent illegitimacy of the result will plunge this country into a serious crisis.

"We therefore call for SADC, and the AU audit teams to look into this process, in particular the voters roll, the ballots and the manner in which the whole process was conducted."

The MDC-T leader said the vote was a sham as it failed to meet the SADC guidelines on elections singling out the issue of the voters roll as well as the disenfranchisement of thousands of potential voters.

He said the voters roll was in a shambles adding that traditional chiefs were also intimidating rural people to vote. He also said some voters were also being bussed rendering the whole exercise a sham.

Visibly downcast, Tsvangirai did not wait for questions from Journalists after presenting his statement choosing, instead, to head straight to his vehicle escorted by his security details and driving off.