Zimbabwe was braced Friday night for six weeks of increased political tension and violence after authorities ended more than a month of indecision and set June 27 as the date for the presidential election run-off between Robert Mugabe, the incumbent, and Morgan Tsvangirai, the leader of the opposition.

The announcement came seven weeks after the first round when Mr Tsvangirai, the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, inflicted the first electoral defeat on Mr Mugabe since independence in 1980 but, according to the official results, fell just short of an outright victory.