ZIMBABWE:ZIMBABWEAN PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party has decided he should contest a run-off vote against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai if neither man wins a majority in the presidential election.
The decision was taken by the ruling party's politburo yesterday after a five-hour meeting in Harare in which the embattled 84-year-old's next move was the centre of the discussion.
Official results in Zimbabwe's presidential election have not been released by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) even though the poll was a week ago. The commission said most recently the delay was down to technical difficulties.
However, the politburo's endorsement would appear to confirm reports made by independent observers since the March 29th poll that none of the candidates had won enough votes to avoid a run-off. A candidate needs 50 percent plus one vote to win the election outright and avoid a second round.
Earlier in the week there had been widespread speculation that Mr Mugabe would rather stand aside than face a second round head-to-head with Mr Tsvangirai, who is leader of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
The party has already announced that according to their calculations Mr Tsvangirai won the presidential race with 50.3 per cent of the vote.
If the ZEC reveal results that show a second round is necessary, under election legislation it should be held on or before April 19th. But it has been reported that Mr Mugabe is being urged to use his presidential powers to amend the Electoral Act so the election can be re-run after 90 days.
Zanu-PF administration secretary Didymus Mutasa said there would be a re-run of the election if the ZEC "compels us".
Mr Mugabe is facing the greatest challenge of his political career following the announcement on Wednesday that his ruling party had lost its parliamentary majority to a combined opposition by 110 seats to 97.
During the meeting Zanu-PF also decided to contest its parliamentary defeat by demanding a recount in at least 16 of the 210 constituencies and accused the MDC of bribing officials at some of the polling stations in order to ensure their candidates won seats.
An official said the party planned to contest "16 or more seats", potentially enough for it to overtake the MDC's relatively slim margin of victory. "This is the worst-run election I have ever experienced," said Mr Mutasa afterwards.
Meanwhile Zimbabwe's attorney general concluded that two foreign journalists arrested last Thursday night for operating without accreditation have no case to answer, say their lawyers.
"The attorney general's office says there is no case to answer," lawyer Harrison Nkomo said.
"Legally, this means the attorney general's office has refused to prosecute them on those particular charges and this means they should be released.
"What we do not know is whether the police are going to release them or if they will prefer other charges."
In what is widely believed was the start of a crackdown ahead of any potential re-run New York Times correspondent Barry Bearak (58) and a 45-year-old journalist from Britain were detained on Thursday during a raid on a Harare guest house and later charged with breaching the country's tough media laws.
Zimbabwe's feared war veterans, whom Mugabe has used to intimidate the population in the past, also took to the streets yesterday and warned the opposition movement they would "defend the country's sovereignty".
"Under the current circumstances the spirit of our people is being provoked. We will be forced to defend our sovereignty," veterans' leader Jabulani Sibanda told a press conference in Harare.
"We must not be pushed."
Zimbabwe is experiencing the worst economic crisis of its 28-year history. There are food shortages at the most basic level, unemployment stands around 80 per cent while inflation is running at over 100,000 per cent.