Zimbabwean opposition leader drops out of presidential polls
Sunday, 22 Jun 2008 19:57
Sources in the party cited violence against activists
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Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has decided to drop out of next week's presidential polls.
The decision effectively hands victory to incumbent president Robert Mugabe after months of political unrest.
In an official announcement today Mr Tsvangirai said there would no point contesting the elections which would not be free and fair and "the outcome is determined by… Mugabe himself".
On Friday, a spokesman for the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Nelson Chamisa, said that Mr Tsvangirai was under pressure to pull-out from the polls from members of his own party due to a lack of faith in the transparency of the elections.
The Reuters news agency has cited an MDC official speaking on condition of anonymity as saying that violence that saw 70 people associated with the MDC killed and doubts over the fairness of the process were reasons for the decision to bow out of the polls.
Mr Tsvangirai said at a news conference in Harare on Sunday: "We in the MDC cannot ask them [supporters] to cast their vote on June 27th when that vote could cost them their lives.
"We have resolved that we will no longer participate in this violent, illegitimate sham of an election process.
"We will not play the game of Mugabe," he added.
The news comes after supporters of the ruling Zanu-PF party disrupted a rally hosted by the opposition today that saw activists beaten and abused.
Zimbabwe was set to have a run-off presidential election between Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai on June 27th but Mr Mugabe is now almost certain to be re-elected as head of state. Official results of the previous election on March 29th stated that neither candidate was able to secure a majority thus requiring another round to pick the country's head of state.
However, official results in the previous election showed that the ruling MDC had won the most seats in parliament and their leader had gained the most votes for the leadership of the country.
The ruling Zanu-PF party held a rally yesterday where Mr Mugabe vowed that the MDC would never be allowed to run the country
The head of the southern
African country also accused the opposition of spreading such information in order to reduce the legitimacy of next week's presidential polls.
Mr Mugabe has previously blamed the UK and US for the economic problems in the country and accused the opposition of catering to the interests of foreign powers.
"We will never allow an event like an election to reverse our independence, our sovereignty. Only God who appointed me will remove me - not the MDC, not the British," he said.