May 11 (Bloomberg) -- Zimbabwe's justice minister said his party will reject any conditions that opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai may set for agreeing to take part in a runoff presidential contest against President Robert Mugabe.

``We'll hold the election under the terms of Zimbabwe's constitution and within our electoral laws,'' Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said in a telephone interview from Harare today. ``No conditions can be set outside that framework.''

Chinamasa, a long-time Mugabe ally, lost his National Assembly seat in the March 29 parliamentary election, which was held concurrently with the original presidential vote. His Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front party now holds a minority of seats in the law-making lower house of parliament for the first time since independence from Britain and the end of white rule in 1980.

Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, said yesterday he was willing to challenge Mugabe in a runoff election after setting conditions to ``level the playing field.''

Speaking in a telephone interview from neighboring South Africa, Tsvangirai said, ``we've given our conditions for the runoff to the Southern African Development Community. They include a total end to the violence being committed against the people of Zimbabwe, and an immediate end to the violence. We have also demanded unfettered access to international observers.''

Tsvangirai said the state-appointed electoral commission, which supervises the election process, ``should be reconstituted immediately,'' media should be allowed free access and the SADC ``must provide peacekeepers to end the violence in the country.''

Voting Figures

The MDC claims Tsvangirai won 50.3 percent of votes in the March 29 presidential election, according to its own tally of votes posted outside polling booths after the ballot. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said May 2 that Mugabe won 43.2 percent of the vote, while Tsvangirai garnered 47.9 percent, meaning neither candidate won the 50 percent needed to avoid a runoff.

The MDC says at least 32 of its supporters have been killed by Mugabe's youth militia and self-styled war veterans, many of whom are too young to have fought in Zimbabwe's 1970s liberation war. More than 40,000 people were also displaced in post- election violence, the MDC and civic organizations said. A further 30 people are ``missing and unaccountable for,'' George Sibotshiwe, Tsvangirai's spokesman, said in a telephone interview from Johannesburg today.

Activists Arrested

Fifty-two MDC activists were arrested late yesterday and early today in the northern district of Shamva, human rights lawyer Alec Muchadehama said in a telephone interview from the nickel-mining town of Bindura today.

``Though they were arrested in Shamva, they're being held in Bindura where they will be charged with inciting public violence,'' Muchadehama said. Bindura is about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of the capital, Harare.

Police in Bindura and Harare didn't answer calls today.

The MDC leader said yesterday he would return to Zimbabwe ``in about two days time.'' Tsvangirai and MDC secretary general Tendai Biti have mostly been outside Zimbabwe since the March 29 vote. The time has been used to lobby African leaders, particularly within the SADC, to put pressure on Mugabe to accept defeat.

``We want the runoff held within the next two weeks,'' Tsvangirai said later from Johannesburg. ``There is little justification for pushing the time on this issue.''

ZEC chairman George Chiweshe said he wouldn't be forced into announcing a date for a run-off ballot, adding that ``the law allows us to extend beyond the 21 days if we have to.''

South African President Thabo Mbeki visited Zimbabwe on May 9 in a bid to ease the country's post-election crisis.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Latham in Johannesburg at through gtheunissen@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: May 11, 2008 13:03 EDT