Johannesburg/Harare - Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) on Thursday called for an urgent summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to set the conditions for a run-off presidential election. Accusing the 14-nation southern African grouping of failing to provide leadership in Zimbabwe's post-election "madness" MDC Secretary-General Tendai Biti said a summit would allow SADC to show that African institutions can solve African problems.
Biti was speaking in Johannesburg a day after the state-controlled Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, by way of a government gazette, announced a more than two-month extension of the period within which a run-off must be held.
A run-off was called for after no candidate took more than 50 per cent of the vote in the first round of voting for president on March 29. MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai took 47.9 per cent to Mugabe's 43.2 per cent.
Under Zimbabwe's election laws a run-off should be held within three weeks of the announcement of the first-round results on May 2, that is to say by May 23. ZEC on Wednesday extended that period to 90 days (July 31).
Biti, whose MDC had been demanding that the vote take place by May 23, blasted the postponement as "unconstitutional and illegitimate."
"Extending the run-off period means further extending Mugabe's illegitimacy for a further four months. In short, ZEC's decision cements the coup against the constitution," he said.
Earlier, SADC executive secretary Tomasz Salomao expressed confidence in the ability of ZEC to organize the run-off.
"If there were free and fair elections on March 29, there's a good chance that the run-off will also be free and fair," Salomao said in an interview in Mozambique's capital, Maputo.
Salomao's remarks flew in the face of the MDC's calls for SADC to take responsibility for ensuring the run-off was free and fair, in line with a SADC declaration issued after an emergency summit on Zimbabwe in early April.
The MDC has accused ZEC of being biased in favour of Mugabe over its month-plus delay in announcing the results of the first round. The party has also demanded an end to attacks by pro-Mugabe youth militia on opposition supporters, which it says has claimed over 30 MDC lives since the election.
