Tsvangirai to fight Mugabe in runoff polls
Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said yesterday he would contest a presidential runoff poll in his violence-wracked country, but called for international peacekeepers and observers to ensure a fair vote.
Tsvangirai, who beat veteran President Robert Mugabe in a first round of voting in March, also called for an end to violence in Zimbabwe to allow the as yet unscheduled second round to take place.
"A run-off election could finally knock out the dictator Mugabe for good," he told reporters in Pretoria.
"The run-off election could be the final round in a very long fight to liberate ourselves from our former liberator," he added in reference to Mugabe's stranglehold on power since the end of British rule in Zimbabwe in 1980.
Tsvangirai had previously refused to say whether he would take part -- even though failure to do so would have handed a victory to Mugabe -- and has accused the government of organising a campaign of terror against his supporters.
Comments