HARARE - Zimbabwe’s opposition reacted furiously today to the prospect of a run-off poll being delayed until the end of July, accusing authorities of flouting the law to help Robert Mugabe cling to power.

 

As the government confirmed the second round of a presidential election would not take place next week as scheduled, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) feared the delay would be used to intensify a campaign of violence and intimidation after Mugabe’s first round defeat.

 

 

 

The United States meanwhile said the international community must insist conditions are put in place to ensure any run-off is free and fair.

 

Under the terms of the electoral law, the run-off between MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and Mugabe should take place within three weeks of the announcement of results from the first round which came on May 2.

However, according to an extraordinary government gazette due to be published today but read out by a source close to the printers, the period has been extended from 21 days to 90 days.

The move means the run-off can now take place as late as July 31 rather than by the scheduled May 23 deadline.

The MDC’s deputy secretary for legal affairs Jessie Majome said the extension was a ploy to perpetuate Mugabe’s 28-year stay in power.

"This is rigging taking place and it’s blatantly unlawful," Majome told AFP. "All these are tricks being used by Zanu-PF (The Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front) to hold on to power and continue what they are doing in their offices and whatever they are doing they are up to no good.

"Zanu-PF will use the 90 days to maim and kill and this extension is an extension of the suffering of the people of Zimbabwe."

The MDC says at least 32 of its supporters have been killed by Mugabe followers since the first round took place on March 29.

While the elections themselves passed off peacefully, there has since been a steady rise in the levels of violence which the United Nations warned this week could reach crisis proportions.
The US has been among those calling for foreign monitors to oversee any run-off and a State Department spokesman said pressure must be brought to bear on Mugabe.

"If a run-off is going to happen, there certainly is an obligation on the part of all the international community to push the Zimbabwean government to make sure that there are conditions in place for a free and fair run-off," said Tom Casey.

Much of the violence has been in the countryside, a traditional stronghold for Mugabe but where he did worse than expected on March 29, and the MDC fears voters will be too scared to cast their ballot in the event of a lengthy delay.

Tsvangirai, who beat Mugabe in the first round but fell just short of an overall majority, said last weekend any election held after May 23 would be illegitimate.

However one of Mugabe’s senior lieutenants said that the commission - whose leadership is appointed by the president - was acting within its rights by pushing back the run-off.

"It is lawful and ZEC (Zimbabwe Electoral Commission) has the authority to extend any period of an election in terms of the law and not what is being claimed by the MDC," Justice and Contitutional Affairs Minister Patrick Chinamasa was quoted as saying by the state-run Herald newspaper.

The commission took nearly five weeks to announce the results of the presidential election, held on the same day as parliamentary polls in which the MDC wrested control of the House of Assembly from ruling Zanu-PF for the first time.

The 84-year-old Mugabe, Africa’s oldest leader, has ruled the former British colony since independence in 1980.

Seen as a post-colonial success story in the first decade-and-a-half after independence, Zimbabwe’s economy has been in freefall since Mugabe embarked on a land reform programme which saw thousands of white-owned farms expropriated.