Tsvangirai to contest polls
2008-02-10 16:35
Harare - Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai confirmed on Sunday he would stand for president in elections next month, quashing speculation he would step aside for former finance minister Simba Makoni.
"I confirm myself, together with the comrades behind me, that we are going to contest the presidential, parliamentary, senatorial and local government elections," the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader told reporters.
"I want to confirm that I am going to be the presidential candidate and what you see behind me is the team that I am going to work with in the forthcoming campaigns," he added in a briefing also attended by lawmakers and top officials.
Makoni announced last week that he planned to challenge President Robert Mugabe at the national elections on March 29 in a move welcomed by the MDC, leading some commentators to predict Tsvangirai would not contest the polls.
His decision to carry on is seen as likely to split the anti-Mugabe vote and increase the re-election prospects of the octogenarian president who is seeking a sixth term in office.
'Old wine in a new bottle'
Tsvangirai praised Makoni as a patriot, but said that he bore some responsibility for the state of the country as a long-time member of Mugabe's ruling Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF).
"Dr Makoni has been part of the establishment for the last 30 years and has witnessed our country deteriorate to this unprecedented level.
"He is equally accountable as Robert Mugabe for the omissions of Zanu-PF," Tsvangirai said.
"I believe that what Dr Makoni is trying is to reform an institutionalised dictatorship. That is not my agenda.
"I am the leader of the MDC.... Dr Makoni is nothing more than old wine in a new bottle."
Tsvangirai lost to Mugabe in the last elections in 2002 in a poll that Western observers said was rigged. His party has since been riven by divisions and he has been unable to persuade a splinter faction to unite behind his candidacy.
- AFP