Zimbabwe: Tsvangirai agrees to second round of elections

Results from the first round were delayed until May 2 when the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), appointed by the ZANU-PF government, announced that Tsvangirai had won 47.9 percent of the vote, against 43.2 percent for Mugabe, insufficient for a clear victory. The ZEC has not yet set a date for the runoff, although legally it should take place within three weeks.

Tsvangirai has previously insisted that he was the outright winner and the vote had been rigged. However, rather than allow Mugabe to claim victory, after days of internal debate and no doubt consultations with Western governments, the MDC agreed to take part in the runoff. Tsvangirai put forward a list of conditions for participation in the votean end to violent attacks on its supporters, reconstitution of the ZEC, acceptance of international election observers and that neighboring countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) help police the electionswhich ZANU-PF has already refused.

The MDC is led by white businessmen and trade union bureaucrats, with a programme to bring Zimbabwe back into free-market capitalism and under International Monetary Fund (IMF) control. It relies on making appeals to the West and has made no attempt to defend its supporters against escalating violence. We know that another election may bring more violence, more gloom, more betrayal, Tsvangirai admitted.

Read More