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TIMELINE: Tsvangirai pulls out of Zimbabwe election
(Reuters) - Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew on Sunday from the June 27 presidential election run-off, citing political violence and an unfair poll that would favor President Robert Mugabe.
Below is a chronology of the main developments since the presidential, parliamentary and local elections on March 29.
March 30 - Opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) claims victory based on early results.
March 31 - Results of parliamentary ballot start to emerge. Regional observers say vote was fair but express concern over delay to results. Western countries also concerned at delay.
April 2 - Final parliamentary election results show ZANU-PF has lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since independence in 1980.
MDC says its leader Tsvangirai also won a presidential election and calls on Mugabe to concede. State-owned paper The Herald says no candidate won an outright majority.
April 13 - Regional leaders at a summit in Zambia call for the rapid verification and release of poll results.
April 14 - High Court rejects an opposition request to force authorities to release the presidential election results.
April 15 - An opposition general strike to demand the release of results flops.
April 26 - Mugabe's party fails to reverse its parliamentary election defeat after a partial vote recount.
May 2 - Electoral body says Tsvangirai won most votes in the presidential election, but not enough to avoid a run-off against Mugabe. Opposition rejects the result.
May 10 - Tsvangirai says he will return home to Zimbabwe to contest the run-off even though he believes we won outright.
May 16 - Run-off is set for June 27.
May 19 - Opposition accuses military intelligence agents of a plot to kill Tsvangirai, forcing him to postpone his return to the country. The government dismisses the plot as a propaganda stunt.
May 24 - Tsvangirai returns to Zimbabwe and says Mugabe wants to decimate opposition structures before the run-off.
May 29 - Mugabe says his government had bought 600,000 tonnes of maize to ease food shortages.
June 3 - Zimbabwe has ordered CARE International to suspend its operations after accusing it of political interference.
June 4 - Police release Tsvangirai after holding him for more than eight hours while he was campaigning for the June 27 election run off.
June 5 - Police detain U.S. and British diplomats after halting their convoy in Bindura, north of Harare. Their cars were damaged and the diplomats were detained for several hours.
June 12 - Zimbabwe police arrest MDC secretary general Tendai Bit. Police say he will be charged with treason and could face the death penalty.
June 22 - Tsvangirai says he is pulling out of the run-off.
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(For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: africa.reuters.com/ )
(Writing by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit)
