By Wendell Roelf
CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's presidential electionrun-off should be scrapped to prevent further bloodshed, theruling party defector who came third in the first round said onThursday.
Former finance minister Simba Makoni won over 8 percent andthose who voted for him could be crucial in deciding the June27 contest between opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai andveteran President Robert Mugabe.
Makoni, who favours a national unity government, toldreporters that Zimbabwe could not afford another election andit would not end the political crisis and economic collapse.
"We are convinced that the last thing our country and itspeople need is another election. Besides, the violence nowgripping the country bodes ill for a free and fair election,"Makoni said on the sidelines of a World Economic Forum meetingin Cape Town.
Tsvangirai beat Mugabe in the March 29 presidentialelection but failed to win enough votes to avoid a secondround. Tsvangirai said he had won outright and that theofficial results were rigged, but still agreed to contest therun-off.
Makoni's campaign had said before the first round that hewould back Tsvangirai if voting went to a run-off, but sincethen he was not formally endorsed the opposition leader.
The opposition accuses Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF ofintimidation and violence to extend the president's 28-yearrule and says 65 people have been killed since the first roundof voting. Mugabe blames the opposition for violence.
The MDC said Tsvangirai was continuing his campaign onThursday after being detained for nine hours on Wednesday.
RARE ATTACK
In an unusually harsh attack by an African leader, KenyanPrime Minister Raila Odinga branded Mugabe a dictator and saidin Cape Town that Zimbabwe's run-off campaign was anembarrassment to the continent's efforts to promote democracy.
"I have advised Morgan Tsvangirai to accept to participatein the run-off, which has been called because dictators know noboundaries," said former opposition leader Odinga, whochallenged Kenyan election results last year before agreeing apower-sharing deal.
It rare for African leaders to publicly criticise Mugabe,who is still seen as a hero by millions on the continent forfighting to end British rule in Zimbabwe in 1980 and forsupporting other anti-colonial struggles.
South African President Thabo Mbeki has been among thosecriticised for taking too soft a line on Mugabe's government,which has presided over an economic meltdown marked byinflation over 165,000 percent and chronic food shortages.
Mbeki's government said it planned to begin sendingelection observers to Zimbabwe this week as part of a largermission sent by the Southern African Development Community,adding that it was essential that the election be fair andtransparent.
Makoni said harassment of opposition leaders and assaultson lawyers and people dealing with the victims of politicalviolence was aimed at creating a hostile environment for a freeand fair run-off.
"And if the leaders will that the elections be put off sothat we can save lives ... then it is not beyond us if we willit that the elections be called off," he said.
State media reported said the ruling party and MDC had setup a joint team to stop political violence, but the oppositionsaid it was unlikely to work in practice.
Lawyers representing the two parties clashed in a Hararecourt where a judge is hearing challenges to the results ofmore than 100 parliamentary seats decided in the Marchparliamentary election. The MDC won control of parliament.
In an indicator of Zimbabwe's rapid economic decline, itsdollar currency plunged to a new low of between 995 million and1.45 billion to the greenback on Thursday from an average 700million at the beginning of the week.
(Additional reporting by Nelson Banya and MacDonaldDzirutwe in Harare and Paul Simao in Johannesburg; Writing byMarius Bosch; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)