Zimbabwe's MDC rejects runoff delay, rally banned

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's main opposition party on Thursday rejected a delay in a run-off election which could unseat President Robert Mugabe, and called for an urgent meeting of countries in the region to avoid "rivers of dead people".

Zimbabwe's electoral commission said on Wednesday the presidential run-off could be delayed until the end of July -- four months after the disputed March 29 elections. The date would be announced on Friday, state television said.

Authorities banned a rally on Sunday at which opposition Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai was to open his campaign for the run-off, the MDC said.

A statement from the MDC said the delay in the run-off "demonstrated beyond reasonable doubt that the regime in Harare does not intend to surrender power and will do anything legally and extra-legally to hold onto the same".

"We would like to express our great outrage at that disregard of Zimbabwe's laws and the people's will," MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti told reporters in South Africa.

Biti said his party insisted on a run-off by May 23, in line with laws which say the vote must be held within 21 days of the election results, which were announced on May 2.

But he stopped short of saying Tsvangirai would only participate if the timeline was upheld.

Zimbabwean police prohibited the MDC's rally on Sunday in Zimbabwe's second city Bulawayo at which Tsvangirai planned to launch his run-off campaign. Tsvangirai left Zimbabwe over a month ago and has been touring the region to garner support.

"They wrote to us saying 'you can't proceed with the rally'. They can't give a reason. Our lawyers are seeking an order to stop police from interfering with our rally," MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said.

U.S. CONDEMNATION

The United States condemned the ban on the rally.

"It is consistent with their past behavior to try to thwart the activities of the opposition parties and it does not ... portend well for proper conditions for a free and fair electoral run," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

The MDC accuses the government of intimidating and attacking its supporters in an effort to rig the second round vote.

The government denies the charges and accuses the MDC of instigating the violence, in which the opposition says 40 of its supporters have been killed.

Biti said the SADC group of southern African nations "needs to act now before there are rivers of dead people".

Human rights group Amnesty International said violence had reached crisis levels in Zimbabwe.

"We are particularly worried about people living in more remote rural areas, where violence is taking place away from the spotlight," Amnesty said.

Police arrested the secretary-general of the anti-government teachers' union outside the High Court, civic activists said.

Raymond Majongwe of the Progressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe was held as he attended a bail hearing of labor leaders arrested earlier this month, activists said.

Official results showed that Tsvangirai beat Mugabe in the election, but not by enough votes to avoid a run-off.

In the parliamentary vote, ZANU-PF lost its majority to the opposition for the first time since independence from Britain in 1980. The new parliament has not yet convened.

Regional states fear that turmoil and instability in Zimbabwe could hurt them too. An economic meltdown in Zimbabwe has triggered inflation of 165,000 percent, 80 percent unemployment, chronic food and fuel shortages and a flood of refugees to neighboring states.

SADC, which will monitor the polls, said this week the political environment in Zimbabwe was not yet suited for a secure and fair run-off.

Biti said the MDC was open to what he called a government of "national healing", but ruled out following Kenya's example for power-sharing, which involved keeping the incumbent as president and making the opposition leader prime minister.

(Additional reporting by Paul Simao in Johannesburg; Editing by Giles Elgood)