Zimbabwe

Tsvangirai will participate in presidential second round

Article published on the 2008-04-16 Latest update 2008-04-17 13:12 TU

Morgan Tsvangirai.
(Photo : AFP)

The day after its failed general strike, Zimbabwe’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is backpedalling again. Its leader Morgan Tsvangirai now says he will participate in a second round of voting in the controversial presidential election, despite having ruled out that option previously.

Tsvangirai claimed outright victory in the 29 March presidential election but the ruling Zanu-PF has said that the vote is too close to call, requiring a second round. Official results have still not been released.   

 

Yesterday Tsvangirai said his participation was conditional on the presence of international observers, demanding that neighbouring members of the Southern African Development Community participate in the vote.

 

After a UN Security Council meeting in New York, Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon echoed his concerns, saying that the credibility of the democratic process is at stake in Zimbabwe. Ban pledged international observers for a possible second presidential round of voting.

 

During its emergency meeting over the weekend, the SADC offered to send election observers to Zimbabwe but stopped short of criticising the government’s delay in releasing the results.

 

Government security forces were nevertheless out in force Tuesday and there was some violence. The MDC claims that 50 of its members were arrested, but the independent Zimbabwe Election Support Network would not confirm that number.

“There are 29 members of the opposition who have been arrested, and this includes a recently elected member of parliament. The charges that they are facing are still to be known,” ZESN representative Noel Kututwa told RFI from Harare.

 

On Wednesday, the streets of Harare were calm and the state’s security presence had been scaled back.