Opposition candidate withdraws from Zimbabwe election

What has happened in Zimbabwe to force opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to pull out of the presidential runoff with just five days left until the election? Tsvangirai, who has endured exile, repeated arrests and police intimidation yet continued to campaign, must have been threatened with something even more serious to get him to withdraw. Tsvangirai announced Sunday that he would halt his campaign in an effort to stop violence against his supporters. "We can't ask the people to cast their vote on June 27 when that vote will cost their lives, Tsvangirai said at a news conference in Harare, the capital, according to the Reuters international news service. "We will no longer participate in this violent sham of an election," he said. Tsvangirai made the announcement at a news conference called after militants loyal to longtime president Robert Mugabe blocked a major campaign rally, Reuters said. Tsvangirai called on the United Nations, the European Union and the Southern African regional bloc to intervene. Mugabe, who was a hero in the country's drive for independence from Britain in the 1970s, has been condemned worldwide as a despot who has destroyed the country's once-thriving economy. Mugabe has said recently that he would not give up his office to Tsvangirai, even if the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change won the runoff election.