Zimbabwe's Tsvangirai to return on Saturday

HARARE (Reuters) - Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai will return to Zimbabwe on Saturday after an absence of more than a month to prepare for a presidential run-off due on June 27, a spokesman for his MDC party said on Friday.

Movement for Democratic Change spokesman Nelson Chamisa said Tsvangirai, the party's president, would arrive in the capital Harare on Saturday ahead of a weekend rally planned for Zimbabwe's second city of Bulawayo.

"President Tsvangirai will be arriving tomorrow after a successful diplomatic offensive. We expect him around 12.30 p.m. (1030 GMT)," Chamisa told Reuters.

Police on Thursday wrote to the MDC, saying the Bulawayo rally could not go ahead, but the high court overturned the ban on Friday.

"This is a crucial meeting, which is president Tsvangirai's first since our victory," Chamisa said.

Tsvangirai left the country soon after the disputed March 29 poll in which he defeated President Robert Mugabe, but without the absolute majority needed to avoid a second round election.

(Reporting by Nelson Banya; Editing by Marius Bosch and Catherine Evans)