Zimbabwe's Tsvangirai mulls abandoning run-off

By Cris Chinaka

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai is considering whether to pull out of the June 27 presidential run-off election, fearing it will be a charade, a spokesman said on Friday.

A growing number of African nations, the United States and former colonial power Britain have said they do not believe the poll would be free and fair because of violence that the opposition blames on veteran President Robert Mugabe.

Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change says at least 70 of its supporters have been killed since he defeated Mugabe in a March 29 vote but fell short of the outright majority needed to avoid a run-off, according to official figures.

"There is a huge avalanche of calls and pressure from supporters across the country, especially in the rural areas, not to accept to be participants in this charade," MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa told Reuters.

Chamisa said the MDC would decide on Monday whether to contest the poll, with divisions among party officials on whether to consider dropping out.

Mugabe, 84, is fighting to cling to power in the country he has ruled since independence in 1980. Once prosperous, its economy is now ruined and millions of Zimbabweans have fled the political and economic crisis to neighboring states.

In Bulawayo, Mugabe said: "The British and Americans want to play God. They have given themselves a role which is not their own, of installing and deposing governments. They want to do the same here but we say to them they are not God."

Speaking in Shona, he added: "We pray to the same God that they pray to ... and he is the one who can remove people".