Makoni said the run-off should not be held while Zimbabwe is in 'the grip of violence' [AFP]

He told a news conference in the capital Harare on Tuesday that he would contest the vote against Robert Mugabe, the president, despite reports of a rising level of violence.
 
"This country is effectively now run by a military junta," he said.

"As a people we have been exposed to state-sponsored brutality."

Tsvangirai said that 66 supporters of his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) had been killed since the first round of voting on March 29.
 
He also said that 3000 people have been hospitalised and another 200 are missing.

"Despite the conditions on the ground, the MDC is focused on the run-off and has developed counter-strategies of campaigning," he said.

"I have been encouraged by people's desire to finish what we have started."

Cancellation calls

Tsvangirai, who won the first round of voting but failed to secure the outright majority needed to take victory, said that if Mugabe declared the winner the June 27 vote he would refuse to accept the results.

Meanwhile, Simba Makoni, Zimbabwe's former finance minister who stood as an independent candidate in the presidential election, said the run-off should cancelled.

"We don't believe a run-off can be held on June 27, and yield a free and fair result," he said.

"The country is in the grip of violence, and we don't believe the ZEC [Zimbabwe Electoral Commission] has the money to provide all the logistics that are required to mobilise the polling offices ... to deploy them countrywide, with all the materials that are required."

Makoni said that instaed of the election there should be talks on forming a transitional government that would be in place for five years to give it time to carry out reforms.

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