Zimbabweans were bracing Friday for a bruising six-week presidential run-off campaign between President Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai following the official announcement of June 27 as the election date, according to dpa. Zimbabwe Electoral Commission head George Chiweshe told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa Friday the run-off would be held on June 27, as stipulated in a special government document Friday. Mugabe, 84, leader since independence in 1980, and former national trade union leader Tsvangirai, 56, will square off again after neither achieved over 50 per cent of the vote needed for outright victory in the first round of voting on March 29. Tsvangirai, who had been calling for the run-off to be held by May 23, confirmed Friday he would take part in the June election, although the poll was "not on the basis of law." Speaking in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where he was attending a conference of the Liberal International, Tsvangirai accused Zimbabwe's rulers of "changing the goalposts to suit themselves." By law a run-off should be held within 21 days of the official results being announced on May 2. The results gave Tsvangirai 47.9 per cent of the ballot, to 43.2 per cent for Mugabe. But ZEC in Friday's government gazette extended the window for the second round to 90 days from 21 days. ZEC chairman Chiweshe told the state Herald newspaper it had not been possible to observe the 21-day rule because the first election had "depleted" resources. "So we need more time to prepare for the run-off." The MDC has accused ZEC of abetting what it calls Mugabe's attempts to buy time to secure victory in a run-off through violence. Hundreds of opposition supporters have been beaten and their homes torched by Mugabe party militia since the March election. The MDC says 40 of its members have been killed in the attacks and called for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to send in peacekeepers to restore calm. A spokesman for Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa, chairman of the southern African body, on Friday ruled out sending troops saying there was no conflict in Zimbabwe and that SADC would be sending election observers. Analysts are divided on whether the violence boosts or diminishes Mugabe's chances of victory. The US-backed Zimbabwe Election Support Network NGO said it agreed with a postponement because the political environment was not conducive to elections but believed the poll should be delayed further. "A large number of the electorate has been relocated or displaced and have had their property destroyed," ZESN chairman Noel Kututwa said. "Holding the election under the current conditions will bring results which are not an expression of the will of the people." Justice for Agriculture Zimbabwe chief executive John Worsley- Worswick said recently the attacks had bolstered the resolve of some MDC supporters to vote Mugabe out of office but had also disenfranchised others by displacing them from their voting areas. Tsvangirai was set to return to Zimbabwe Saturday to kickstart his campaign, MDC director of information Luke Tamborinyoka told dpa. He left Zimbabwe over a month ago amid fears for his safety. The MDC went to the High Court Friday to obtain the lifting of a ban on a rally in Zimbabwe's second city of Bulawayo Sunday that he is scheduled to address. The MDC had moved the rally to Bulawayo after police banned the party holding rallies in Harare.
