HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - Zimbabwe's ruling party has opened its runoff campaign, urging President Robert Mugabe's supporters to get out to vote and denouncing violence, state media reported Tuesday.

The state-owned Herald quoted ZANU-PF spokesman Nathan Shamuyarira as saying Monday that many supporters did not vote during the first round on March 29 because they assumed there was no threat to Mugabe's rule.

Electoral commission officials announced on Friday that opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai won the most votes, but not the simple majority needed to avoid a runoff with second place finisher Mugabe. The opposition has dismissed those results as fraudulent, claiming Tsvangirai won outright, and has not yet said whether he would contest a runoff. No date for the second round has been set.

"We urge all our members to vote for President Mugabe - a man who has transformed this country from being a colony to an independent, sovereign and dynamic state," Shamuyarira was quoted as saying in The Herald.

"We are urging our members to avoid violence," he added. "We are urging our people to go and campaign and vote peacefully. We are also urging the opposition to avoid violence and respect people's lives."

Tsvangirai's party and independent rights groups have accused Mugabe of delaying the official results while his army and party militants mounted a campaign of violence and intimidation intended to undermine support for the opposition before any runoff.