So the fully-fiddled results are in - Tsvangirai 47.9%, Mugabe 43.2%, Makoni 8.3%, Towungana 0.6%. No-one really believes that they’re the accurate results, but they’re the ones we have to work with. The newly-reunited MDC now faces a tricky decision:

- Boycott the run-off in the name of saving the lives of their supporters now, and in doing so hand a legitimate victory to Mugabe (who will then continue to ruin the country for another 5 years, costing the Maker knows how many lives in the meantime, whether through hunger or long-term political violence); or

- Take part in a run-off that they know will result in a firestorm of short-term violence aimed at securing a victory for Bob, and that Zanu-PF will take any and all measures to rig to back up the “legitimate” vote that their violence will secure.

I’m glad I’m not the one making that decision. But for what the opinion of a Zimbabwean exile thousands of miles away is worth: I think they should take part, and use the political contacts they’ve made and support they’ve received from Tsvangirai’s whirlwind diplomacy over the past few weeks to make it as difficult as possible for Zanu-PF to get their way. The tragic but simple fact is that lives are going to be lost either way - and if the MDC genuinely want to minimise the coming disaster, then they need to get rid of Zanu-PF now, or use the run-off to strip them of all legitimacy - which is, after all, what they so desire.