Nigeria calls on Zimbabwe to postpone election

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria called on Zimbabwe to postpone a presidential run-off vote due on Friday, saying it was doubtful that a credible poll could be held under the current circumstances.

"Nigeria joins the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and well meaning friends of Zimbabwe in calling for postponement of the run-off elections," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement late on Thursday.

"It calls on the government of Zimbabwe to take up the offer of fresh negotiations with a view to restoring normalcy and a congenial atmosphere for free and fair elections," it said.

President Robert Mugabe has defied mounting world condemnation and calls, including from other African leaders, to potspone an election which the opposition says is a farce.

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who beat Mugabe in the first round of voting in March, withdrew from the run-off last Sunday over violence and intimidation of his Movement for Democratic Change supporters by the ruling ZANU-PF party.

Friday's poll has already been widely condemned and a security troika of the Southern African Development Community on Wednesday called for the vote to be postponed, saying Mugabe's re-election as the only candidate could lack legitimacy.

(Reporting by Camillus Eboh; Writing by Nick Tattersall)