Tsvangirai: I'm ready to fight Mugabe in election run-off

MDC leader announces that he will return to Zimbabwe for poll – but is told it may not be held for another year

Zimbabwe's opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, announced yesterday that he would take part in a presidential election run-off against Robert Mugabe – but it may be next year before the vote is held.

Speaking in Pretoria, capital of neighbouring South Africa, Mr Tsvangirai said: "I am ready, and the people are ready for the final round." The leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has remained in exile for the past month, mainly in South Africa, saying he feared for his safety. But yesterday he said he would return shortly and begin a "victory tour".

Since finally announcing the presidential election result after a delay of nearly five weeks, Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF government has said the second round could be delayed for up to a year, during which the present administration would remain in power. Lawyers say that if the electoral law were followed, the run-off should be held within 21 days of the result being declared – in other words, by 23 May.

After the elections on 29 March, it soon emerged that Zanu-PF had lost its majority in the House of Assembly. But the result of the presidential election was withheld – for "verification", according to the nominally independent Zimbabwe Election Commission (ZEC) – and a campaign of violent intimidation began against MDC supporters that has cost some 30 lives and left thousands homeless or in hospital.

Before yesterday Mr Tsvangirai had insisted that he won an absolute majority in the first round of the election, although independent observers estimated that he had fallen just short, and said he would refuse to take part in any run-off. Once the official results were declared on 2 May, however, giving him 47.9 per cent of the vote to Mr Mugabe's 43.2 per cent, sticking to his position would have meant handing victory to the President by default. Yesterday he said people would feel "betrayed" if he did not run.

Setting conditions for the MDC's participation, Mr Tsvangirai called for the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) to send peacekeepers to Zimbabwe before the run-off to instil public confidence and ensure a poll free of violence. There should be unfettered access for international observers and journalists, and a new electoral commission should replace the "discredited" ZEC. But he said he would run even without "the optimum conditions" – and the government in Harare rejected his demands almost immediately.

Most expect that any second-round campaign would see violence intensify. "How are we going to campaign in the run-off as MDC supporters," asked Tapiwa Mudiwa, 26, in Harare. "We can't wear MDC T-shirts. We fear we can't even go to rallies." Outside the urban areas, away from the scrutiny of Zimbabwe's embattled independent media and civic groups, the intimidation is far worse. The Zimbabwe Peace Project said it had documented more than 4,000 cases of political violence last month alone, including 10 murders.

"War veterans" are being given police numbers and uniforms and posted to polling centres. Zanu-PF's youth militias are moving round the party's former rural strongholds, forcing villagers to attend meetings at which they are warned of the consequences if they vote "the wrong way" a second time. MDC officials and supporters are being systematically attacked, to drive them away from where they are entitled to vote. Recently, there have been reports of police and militias preventing victims reaching hospitals in Harare, and of medical records and X-rays being seized to cover up the extent of the violence.

Mr Tsvangirai acknowledged the risks, but said his consultations with Zimbabweans had convinced him they wanted him to run. "They believe that we as a nation are brave enough, we are strong enough and we are angry enough to fight an election once again," he said. "A run-off election could finally knock out the dictator for good."