Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change on Wednesday threw down the gauntlet to President Robert Mugabe, saying it had won an outright victory in the weekend elections but challenging him to hold a presidential run-off if he wanted one.

Addressing a press conference in Harare, Tendai Biti, the MDC’s secretary general, said the party’s final results, based on returns from polling stations, gave Morgan Tsvangirai 50.3 percent of the votes cast, just above the threshold of 50 per cent plus one vote needed to avoid a second round.