MDC waiting for run-off date before deciding next move

By Tichaona Sibanda
5 May 2008

The MDC will not be pushed into announcing it’s decision on whether it will participate in a presidential runoff. A top aide to Morgan Tsvangirai said they would only publicise their decision when officials set an actual run-off date.

‘We have a decision,’ Tsvangirai’s spokesman George Sibotshiwe said on Monday. He added; ‘We will only announce it when the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission announces the date of the election.’

The party’s secretary for International Affairs, Elphas Mukonoweshuro, said the provisions of the Electoral Act are quite clear in that a run-off has to be held within 21 days of the announcement of the presidential results.

‘If they cannot be held within this time frame, there could be an understandable delay of a week or two because of logistical considerations, but not more than that. It cannot be extended to a year or even delayed by six weeks,’ Mukonoweshuro said.

The MDC insists Tsvangirai won outright on March 29 and party officials dismissed as fraudulent Friday’s official announcement that he got the most votes, but not enough to avoid a second round.

Mukonoweshuro accused the regime of delaying the official results while the army and party militants mounted a campaign of violence and intimidation intended to undermine support for the opposition before any runoff.

‘The level of violence has increased in the rural areas and this climate of fear raises doubts if the election would be held in a peaceful environment,’ Mukonoweshuro said.

The deputy president of the MDC, Thokozani Khupe, said in the unlikely event of a run-off the MDC will once again romp to victory by an even bigger margin.

Speaking after the party’s national executive met in Harare on Saturday, Khupe said that even though the regime was using strong-arm tactics, it would not help them win a second round.