Harare , Zimbabwe ( CNN ) -- Zimbabwe 's prime minister , Morgan Tsvangirai , said late Friday that `` with deep regret and sadness '' he has withdrawn a court case challenging President Robert Mugabe 's re-election on July 31 . In two-page affidavit filed at Constitutional Court , Tsvangirai said he was not happy that the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission ( ZEC ) had not released election material he wanted to use in the court case . `` This in my view seriously handicaps my prosecution of the petition and it has rendered in impracticable , '' said Tsvangirai , who has since 2000 made three attempts to unseat the now-89-year old Mugabe , Zimbabwe 's only ruler since 1980 . ZEC declared that Mugabe had defeated Tsvangirai with 61 % of the vote to 34 % in the July 31 polls . In the court challenge , Tsvangirai had said ZEC had rigged the election for Mugabe and his Zanu PF party , which won a two-thirds majority in parliament . `` I shall endeavor to use all democratic means to bring about the successful resolution of this issue , '' added Tsvangirai . The issue of Zimbabwe is likely to dominate the meeting of regional South Afridan Development Community leaders in Malawi this weekend . In 2008 , African leaders refused to recognize an election in which Mugabe claimed victory over Tsvangirai . They forced the two to form a fragile power-sharing government that ended with the July 31 elections .
Voters went to the polls on July 31 to elect a new president . Zimbabwe 's election commission said that incumbent Mugabe won . Challenger ##s says he is withdrawing a court case on the election . He says the election commission has not released material he wanted for the election .