Zimbabwe's neighbors urge poll postponement

By MacDonald Dzirutwe

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's neighbors on Wednesday urged the postponement of Friday's presidential election, saying the re-election of President Robert Mugabe could lack legitimacy in the current violent climate.

The call by a security troika of southern African nations put the heaviest pressure yet on Mugabe, who has so far defied a storm of international condemnation of bloody violence following the first round of elections on March 29.

Regional power South Africa added to the pressure, saying a top negotiator was in Harare mediating talks on options including postponement of the vote.

But Zimbabwe's Electoral Commission (ZEC) ruled that last Sunday's withdrawal from the election by opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai had no legal force and the poll would go ahead.

U.S. President George W. Bush said the polls had no credibility.

Friday's presidential elections "appear to be a sham," Bush said at the White House after meeting members of the U.N. Security Council. "The Mugabe government is intimidating people on the ground in Zimbabwe," he said.

Tsvangirai, who pulled out of the contest because of violence which has killed almost 90 of his followers, called for the African Union, backed by the United Nations, to lead a transition in Zimbabwe.

A security troika of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) said after meeting near the Swazi capital Mbabane: "It is the considered opinion of the organ summit that holding the election under the current circumstances may undermine the credibility and legitimacy of its outcome."