|
With Zimbabwe Presidential Run-Off Date Set, Tough Campaign Looms
A new phase of Zimbabwe's long-running electoral saga opened late this week as the Harare government finally set June 27 as the date for a presidential run-off between President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai amid continuing political violence in the country's rural areas mainly targeting Tsvangirai backers.His formation of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change said it would take up the electoral gauntlet once more though objecting that a run-off should not have been necessary, as the MDC contends Tsvangirai won an outright first-round majority, and also arguing that the run-off should have been scheduled over a month earlier. Opposition officials said that if a run-off had to be held, it should have been scheduled within the statutory deadline of 21 days from the announcement of official first-round results on May 2 by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission - that is, on May 23. The commission said Tsvangirai received 47.9% of the vote, Mr. Mugabe 43.2%. Posted by: Fred 2008-05-17 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=239228 |