Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change on Sunday was seeking international and regional support for a list of conditions under which its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, would contest a second-round run-off against President Robert Mugabe. These conditions include demands for the immediate deployment of international election observers from beyond Africa as well as from the African Union and the 14-nation Southern African Development Community.

The MDC continues to insist that Mr Tsvangirai won the first round outright with more than 50 percent of the popular vote, despite a firm rejection from the chairman of the state-appointed Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, which took almost five weeks to publish results of the presidential poll.

At the weekend, George Chiweshe, the ZEC chairman, attacked the MDC, which he accused of “playing games” in the vote verification process. Mr Chiweshe said that while the Zanu-PF party and Simba Makoni, the independent candidate, had produced their own voting numbers to compare with those of the commission, the MDC had failed to do so, despite being given extra time.

Mr Chiweshe claimed that both the Zanu-PF and Makoni figures were identical to those compiled by the commission, but no comparison with the MDC figures had been possible because the opposition refused to produce its voting numbers.

The MDC’s demands for international observer missions and a guarantee of prompt publication of the results of the second round are almost certain to be rejected by both the government and the electoral commission, meaning that within the next week Mr Tsvangirai and his advisers will have to decide whether to contest the election or hand Mr Mugabe victory unopposed.

The opposition party fears that during the run-off campaign its supporters, especially in rural areas, would be the target of violent attacks by Zanu-PF militia. The MDC says that since the March 29 poll, 20 of its members have been killed by government supporters and 1,000 homes have been destroyed, but government ministers claim that that it is the MDC that is responsible for the violence.

The MDC’s hopes that international and regional pressure will force Mr Mugabe to scale back the violence and allow international observers to monitor the second round are unlikely to be realized. The ruling Zanu-PF party appears determined to ensure not only that Mr Tsvangirai loses the next round, assuming he contests it, but also that the courts overturn the MDC’s parliamentary majority.

Zanu-PF says it will contest the parliamentary results in the courts for 52 of the 109 seats won by the MDC, and given the courts’ partisan track record, it is quite possible that sufficient results will be overturned to give Mr Mugabe a working parliamentary majority. No date has yet been set for the second round of presidential voting, but it is likely to be in the last week of May or the first half of June.