Zimbabwe opposition presses victory claim
HARARE (AFP) — Zimbabwe's opposition on Saturday reiterated claims of an outright election victory against President Robert Mugabe, saying a run-off was "unnecessary", as tensions in the country mounted.
"We are convinced that the run-off is unnecessary," Thokozani Khupe, deputy leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, told reporters after a meeting of senior party members in the capital Harare.
But Khupe also appeared to leave open the possibility of a second round, saying: "In the unlikely event of a run-off, the MDC will once again romp to victory by an even bigger margin."
The party's candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, was in neighbouring South Africa from where he has pushed for Mugabe to step down. He took part in the talks via a video link-up, said party spokesman George Sibotshiwe.
Last month, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa accused Tsvangirai of treason.
Tsvangirai was to make a formal announcement on Monday and the national council, the party's main policy body, was to meet "within days", party spokesmen said, without giving further details.
Election officials on Friday said there was no outright winner of the March 29 election, with Tsvangirai getting 47.9 percent and Mugabe getting 43.2 percent. They called a run-off between the two at a date yet to be announced.
The run-off has to take place within 21 days of publication of the results.
It is an unprecedented development for a country where the 84-year-old Mugabe has had a stranglehold on power since independence in 1980. Officials from Mugabe's party have said he will contest the run-off.
Ahead of the announcement of the results, Tsvangirai said that there was "no need for a run-off" but he has also said previously that he could take part in a second round if international observers were present.
Observers from the Southern African Development Community (SADC), an influential 14-state regional organisation, monitored the elections but Western observers were banned by the authorities.
Political analysts say former trade union boss Tsvangirai, 56, has no real option but to contest the run-off as a refusal to take part would automatically hand victory to his longtime rival Mugabe.
Tsvangirai has been a thorn in the side of Mugabe since the 1990s. He has faced charges of treason and was given a brutal beating by police last year. In 2002, he accused Mugabe of rigging his way to victory against him.
The stand-off in Zimbabwe has been accompanied by a wave of political violence in rural areas that human rights groups and the MDC say are aimed at forcing people to vote for Mugabe in a second round.
In the latest sign of tensions, MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa on Saturday said the party had contacted police after receiving reports from security service sources about an assassination plot against top party members.
Police could not immediately be contacted to verify the claim.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon earlier warned of "a serious humanitarian crisis" in Zimbabwe and the UN children's agency UNICEF has said it is providing emergency assistance to 1,500 people displaced by the violence.
A lawyer told AFP on Saturday that the authorities have released on bail six opposition activists and a journalist arrested for political attacks but that more than 20 other opposition supporters remain behind bars.
The political turmoil has also aggravated an economic meltdown in Zimbabwe, where inflation is running at more than 165,000 percent, unemployment is at 80 percent and there are shortages of most basic goods.
Meanwhile international powers have questioned the credibility of results released nearly five weeks after voting day but have said a run-off could take place if the violence is stopped and international observers are allowed in.
Mugabe, a hero of the 1970s war against white minority rule in the then Rhodesia, has condemned foreign interference and has accused Britain, Zimbabwe's former colonial master, of imperial designs.
