Mugabe tells opponents to '€˜go hang'

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said Monday that those upset by his disputed landslide election victory can "go hang." The election, which Mugabe's opponents have challenged as unconstitutional, extended his more than three-decade rule by another five years.

"Those who were hurt by defeat can go hang if they so wish," the 89-year-old head of state told thousands at a rally in celebration of Heroes Day, which commemorates the country's liberation wars.

"Never will we go back on our victory," he added.

Mugabe was declared winner of the July 31 presidential election with 61 percent of the vote. His challenger, who received 34 percent of the vote, was Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T).

Lawyers for Tsvangirai, who said they discovered that 870,000 names were duplicated on the voters' lists, filed an appeal with the Constitutional Court on Friday challenging the vote, which Tsvangirai called "fraudulent and stolen."

However, it is uncertain whether the legal challenge will hold any weight, as the court's judges are considered Mugabe loyalists.

"We are delivering democracy on a platter. We say take it or leave it, but the people have delivered democracy," Mugabe said.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said Thursday that more than 750,000 urban voters were missing from the electoral list, in what they described as "a systematic effort to disenfranchise an estimated million voters."

Douglas Mwonzora, MDC-T spokesman, said that his party would soon submit evidence of vote-buying, rigging and other irregularities.

Britain, the United States and several other Western countries criticized the controversial vote, while South Africa President Jacob Zuma congratulated Mugabe on his victory.  

Al Jazeera and wire services