Harare, Zimbabwe, Jun 27, 2008 / 16:12 pm
Zimbabwe’s political opposition urged the international community to reject the results of Friday’s run-off presidential election in which President Robert Mugabe stood as the sole candidate.
Morgan Tsvangirai, who is Mugabe’s former opponent in the presidential race, along with the United States and the European Union, dismissed the election as “a sham” in comments made to reporters.
“Anyone who recognizes the result of this election is denying the will of the Zimbabwean people and standing in the way of a transition that will deliver stability and prosperity not just to the country, but to the region," Tsvangirai said.
Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), won the first round of the election in March with 47.9 percent of the vote, compared to Mugabe’s 43.2 percent. In the simultaneous legislative elections, Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party lost control of parliament for the first time since the nation’s independence from Britain in 1980, though the outcome is being contested in courts.