MDC does not recognise official results: MDC
Zimbabwe's final election figures amounted to "grand theft", the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said in Johannesburg on Friday night.
The initial figures had given the MDC an "outright win", claimed MDC secretary general Tendai Biti.
The official figures announced by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) on Friday, had reduced this to below 50%, he said.
The ZEC announced on Friday that MDC presidential candidate Morgan Tsvangirai had taken 47.9% of the vote against President Robert Mugabe's 43.2%. A third candidate, Simba Makoni obtained 8.3%.
As no candidate achieved more than 50% of the vote, there would have to be a run-off vote - or a second election - between the two top candidates.
Zimbabwe legislation requires that this be held within 21 days of the announcement of the election result.
"The run-off is an attempt to reverse the people's gain that was achieved on March 29," charged Biti.
"It is consistent with a regime that is not ready to let go of power."
The MDC has called on the Southern African Development Community to hold and extraordinary summit on the electoral irregularities it claims have occurred in Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile, Britain has said the presidential poll results announced on Friday "lack credibility", adding that a second round could not be fair unless more international monitors were present.
Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai was finally declared the winner of the March 29 vote but fell just short of toppling incumbent Robert Mugabe.
"The election results released five weeks after polling day lack credibility but it's clear that at least 60 percent of the population voted for change in Zimbabwe," a Foreign Office spokesperson told AFP.
"President Mugabe's campaign of violence and intimidation, coupled with the arrest of 99 electoral commission officials in the last month, show exactly how (his ruling party) Zanu-PF would approach any second round.
"Without an immediate end to violence and the introduction of a wider range of international monitors and in much greater numbers than were present for the first, no second round could be free and fair."
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