Zimbabwe's main opposition party said yesterday it was still undecided on whether its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, should take part in a run-off election against President Robert Mugabe.
Election officials announced on Friday that Tsvangirai, who heads the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), had beaten Mugabe in the March 29 presidential poll but failed to win the absolute majority necessary to avoid a second ballot.
The MDC has accused election officials of rigging the results, which showed Tsvangirai won 47.9 per cent of the vote to Mugabe's 43.2 per cent. The party says Tsvangirai won the election outright and Mugabe's rule is over. But it has not signalled how it will handle the run-off.
The government said it expected the MDC to take part.
"We know they are going to participate in the run-off but want to buy time because they are not ready," deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga said.
The MDC reaffirmed its position that Tsvangirai had won the election outright and that there was no need for a run-off. It said its representatives had not been allowed to verify results.
Thokozani Khupe, MDC vice-president, told reporters the party was lobbying the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to urge the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) and the ruling ZANU-PF party to allow the MDC to check the results.
The government dismissed the MDC's approach to SADC as a stalling tactic.
"Lobbying SADC over a verification process they (the MDC) took part in is wasting time," said Matonga.
Mugabe, in power for 28 years, has accepted the official results and will contest the second ballot. The veteran ruler would hold on to power under electoral laws if Tsvangirai boycotts the run-off, which by law should be held within 21 days of the first ballot's results.
ZEC has the power to extend the period in between the two ballots, and political observers say a 40-day wait was likely.
The opposition, Western governments and human rights groups have accused Mugabe of unleashing militias to scare Zimbabweans into backing him in the run-off. The government denies the allegation and says the MDC has carried out political violence.
Twenty MDC supporters have been killed and more than 1,000 homes have been burnt or destroyed by ZANU-PF militia since the elections, Khupe said. Mugabe's critics say they doubt the next ballot will be fair.
"The ruling party's bloody crackdown on the opposition makes a free and fair run-off vote a tragic joke," Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
On Friday, the United States and former colonial power Britain questioned the credibility of the official results.
Mugabe, regarded by many in Africa as a liberation era hero, accuses Britain of plotting with the opposition to oust him.
Few African leaders, including South African President Thabo Mbeki, have criticised the Zimbabwean leader publicly.
Mbeki complained on Friday that political interference by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and US President George W. Bush had threatened his efforts to mediate between ZANU-PF and the MDC, South Africa's Star newspaper reported on yesterday.
The United States and other nations have pledged billions of dollars in reconstruction aid if Mugabe is removed from power.