Zimbabwe won't LET Opposition Leader Withdraw from Election

‘Tsvangirai can’t pull out’

Herald Reporters

MDC-T leader Morgan Tsvangirai cannot pull out of Friday’s presidential election run-off, legal experts said yesterday.

Opposition-aligned constitutional lawyer Lovemore Madhuku said Tsvangirai’s decision had no legal force.

Madhuku, chairman of the anti-Government National Constitutional Assembly, told SW Radio Africa: "The strict legal position is that candidature for the run-off or the second election is not a voluntary exercise, you give your consent when you contest the first election."

Tsvangirai yesterday formally wrote to the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission to withdraw from the run-off, taking a cue from the British government-sponsored statement expressing concern to the United Nations over violence in the run-up to the poll.