Tsvangirai may fight supervised Zimbabwe run-off poll

Published on Tuesday 15 April 2008 22:14

MORGAN Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe's opposition leader, yesterday hinted he would be willing to take part in a second round of voting against Robert Mugabe, the country's embattled president, but only if polls were overseen by international observers.

With results from the 29 March election still unannounced, Mr Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, said: "We won't be part of (a run-off] unless a new electoral environment is assured with the participation of the South African Development Community (and] the international community."

Mr Tsvangirai claims he won the poll with at least 50.3 per cent of votes. But independent observers warn his total may be closer to 49 per cent, necessitating a run-off.

Zimbabwe's electoral laws state that if no presidential candidate wins 50 per cent plus one vote, a run-off must be held within 21 days.

Meanwhile, in an astonishing snub to Thabo Mbeki, the president of South Africa, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) yesterday called on the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to release the election results.

Contradicting Mr Mbeki's weekend claim that there was "no crisis" in Zimbabwe, the ANC's top national working committee branded the situation in Zimbabwe "dire".

Mr Mbeki has urged Zimbabweans and the region to wait for ZEC to release election results. But Matthews Phosa, the ANC's national treasurer, warned the delay could "lead to explosions of violence."

He added: "Preemptive action should be taken to avoid disaster. We should put more pressure on the government of Zimbabwe and the electoral commission to release results to ensure the voice of the people is heard."

However, the ZEC has reiterated that a result will not be announced until after Saturday's recount of votes in 23 constituencies, stoking fears that Mr Mugabe has had ballot boxes stuffed with votes in his favour.