Zimbabwe Opposition Vows to Boycott Runoff

Zimbabwe’s opposition party today announced it would boycott a runoff of the presidential election, saying their candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, won the vote “hands down.” Official results from the election still have not been released, but President Robert Mugabe is thought to be pushing for a runoff vote, claiming Tsvangirai didn’t win by a large enough margin, the Guardian reports.

The defiant move comes a day before an African summit on the situation, which both Mugabe and Tsvangirai are set to attend. Tsvangirai has called Mugabe’s delays a de facto coup, but believes he will eventually take power. “We’ll manage to get Mugabe out,” he said. “No one wants to touch Mugabe in the region now.” (More Zimbabwe elections stories.)