Zimbabwe's main opposition yesterday vowed to "bury" President Robert Mugabe at next month's second-round election, and called for the process of checking the poll results to be open to the media.

The Movement for Democratic Change launched its campaign ahead of the June 27 election in the absence of its leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who delayed his return from abroad after the party said it had discovered a plot to kill him.

MDC vice president Thokozani Khupe told about 10,000 supporters in Zimbabwe's second city of Bulawayo that the opposition would win by an even bigger margin after official results from the March 29 first round vote showed Mr Tsvangirai did not secure sufficient votes to avoid a run-off. The MDC insists Mr Tsvangirai won outright the first time.

"We decided to participate in the run-off to give the people of Zimbabwe a second chance to kick out the dictatorship. We have now declared a zero vote for Robert Mugabe," Mr Khupe told supporters yesterday.

"We need to give Mugabe a final blow. On June 27 we will be having a Zanu-PF funeral. We are going to make sure we bury them so that they will not resurrect again."

The MDC has alleged electoral fraud in the March election, and Mr Khupe said verification of results in next month's vote should be open to the media and observers and recorded on camera "so that Zanu-PF will not cheat."