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| Zimbabwe Opposition Leader Pulls Out of Election |
By Peta Thornycroft
Harare
22 June 2008
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Thornycroft report - Download (MP3)
Thornycroft report
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Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who won the most votes in
the March 29 presidential poll, has pulled out of the second round of
voting due Friday. Peta Thornycroft reports from Harare that Mr.
Tsvangirai said he cannot take part in the runoff because he does not
want to legitimize Mr. Mugabe's war against the people of Zimbabwe.
 | | MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai, 22 Jun 2008 |
Zimbabwe Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai says he is pulling out of
Friday's presidential runoff because of mounting violence and
intimidation against his supporters.
"We
in the MDC [Movement for Democratic Change] have resolved that we will
no longer participate in this violent, illegitimate sham of an election
process," he said.
Mr. Tsvangirai said President Robert Mugabe and Zanu PF had done everything they could to discredit the poll.
The
MDC candidate said too many had died, and too many had been displaced.
He said the violence meant people had been given a choice, to vote for
Zanu PF or die.
Mr. Tsvangirai won the first round of the
presidential election on March 29, but the Zimbabwe Election
Commission said he did not gain an outright majority. The MDC also won
the parliamentary elections and most local government elections.
The
runoff election campaign has been overshadowed by violence and
intimidation, especially in rural areas. Human-rights groups say at
least 85 people have died and tens of thousands have been displaced
from their homes, most of them opposition supporters.
 | Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the main opposition party in Zimbabwe speaks at a press conference in Harare, 22 Jun 2008
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Mr.
Tsvangirai criticized the Zimbabwe Election commission for failling to
ensure election laws were followed. He called for the African Union,
and all regional and international organizations, including the United
Nations to intervene to ensure that peaceful elections could take place
soon.
The opposition leader announced his decision after
militants loyal to President Robert Mugabe blocked the site of the
MDC's main campaign rally. Men dressed in Zanu-PF T-shirts, and some
armed with dangerous weapons, including guns, were harassing and
beating people near the site of the rally at the Harare Showgrounds.
Observers
from the Southern African Development Community SADC remained in their
hotel and journalists who tried to go to the rally site were shot at.
Several people were grabbed off the streets in one suburb and forced to
attend an impromptu Zanu-PF rally.
Some voters who support Mr.
Tsvangirai say they are relieved that he has pulled out. Others say
this will not stop Mr. Mugabe's campaign of violence and that he will
carry on until the MDC has disappeared altogether.
The
Associated Press reports Zimbabwean Information Minister Sikhanyiso
Ndlovu said the runoff would go ahead and would prove Zimbabweans'
support for Mugabe, who has held power since independence from Britain
in 1980.
SADC observers appeared confused about the MDC
announcement. Some said they would stay in Zimbabwe and try to protect
people, others said they believed they would now be withdrawn.
South African diplomats said they did not know in advance that Mr. Tsvangirai would pull out of the runoff.
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