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HARARE - Concern grew overnight that long delays in issuing Zimbabwe's election results hid attempts by President Robert Mugabe to cling to power by rigging.
Almost 48 hours after polls closed, only 52 of 210 parliamentary constituencies had been declared, showing Mugabe's ZANU-PF party one seat ahead of the main opposition MDC. Two of his ministers lost their seats.
No results were announced for the presidential vote, in which Mugabe faces the most formidable political challenge of his 28 years in power.
"It is now clear that there is something fishy. The whole thing is suspicious and totally unacceptable," said MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) spokesman Nelson Chamisa.
Mugabe, 84, is under unprecedented pressure from a two-pronged attack by veteran MDC rival Morgan Tsvangirai and ZANU-PF defector Simba Makoni, who both blame him for Zimbabwe's ruin.
Official results showed ZANU-PF with 26 seats, MDC with 25 and a breakaway MDC faction with one.
There was a chorus of concern over the delays, including former colonial ruler Britain, the European Union and both opposition challengers.
The MDC said unofficial tallies showed Tsvangirai had 60 per cent of the presidential vote, twice the total for Mugabe, with more than half the results counted. Private polling organisations also put Tsvangirai well ahead.
In his first public comments since the vote, Makoni criticised the way results were being announced. "We are very worried by the manner in which things are unfolding," he told Reuters.
The Save Zimbabwe Campaign, a coalition of civic, political and religious groups, also expressed concern at the delay which it said "gives reason to Zimbabweans to suspect that the electoral process is being manipulated by the incumbent."
Although the odds seemed stacked against Mugabe, in power since independence in 1980, analysts believe his iron grip on the country and solid backing from the armed forces could enable him to ignore the results and declare victory.
Tsvangirai and some international observers accused Mugabe of stealing the last presidential election in 2002.
Zimbabwe is suffering the world's highest inflation of more than 100,000 per cent, chronic shortages of food and fuel, and an HIV/AIDS epidemic that has contributed to a steep decline in life expectancy.
The MDC said its tally showed it had won 96 parliamentary constituencies out of 128 counted. Makoni had 10 per cent of the unofficial presidential vote count.
"In our view, as we stated before, we cannot see the national trend changing. This means the people have spoken, they've spoken against the dictatorship," MDC Secretary-General Tendai Biti said.
Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa and Public Affairs Minister Chen Chimutengwende both lost their seats.
The state-run Herald newspaper accused the MDC of "preparing its supporters to engage in violence by pre-empting results, claiming they had won". The government has warned that any early victory claim would be regarded as an attempted coup.
Throughout Monday, state television ignored the most important election since independence in 1980, broadcasting a bizarre mixture of cartoons, church sermons and 1970s football matches.
At the MDC headquarters in Zimbabwe's second city, Bulawayo, the excitement was palpable as the whiteboards covering the flaking walls began to fill up with poll counts - numbers that could finally amount to
change in the nation's leadership.
Into the middle of the melee was Dorcas Sibanda, a single mother with four young children and also one of the newly elected MDC MPs for Bulawayo.
"In my constituency, [Mugabe] got nothing," she said. "We knew people had made up their mind.
"He needs to pack his bags and leave the State House."
Pausing for hugs and high-fives with colleagues, she continued: "They're going into the garbage dump of history where they belong."
Mugabe blames Zimbabwe's collapse on Britain and says Western sanctions have sabotaged the economy.
He rejects vote-rigging allegations.
Electoral Commission chairman George Chiweshe said the delay in results was due to the complexity of holding presidential, parliamentary and local polls together for the first time.
In previous elections, most results have been released by this stage.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said in a statement there should be no unnecessary delay in releasing the results.
"The international community is watching events closely," he said.
A spokesman for the European Commission said it would be "opportune" for the electoral commission to publish final results as soon as possible "to demonstrate its independence and to avoid unnecessary speculation."
Two South African members of a regional observer mission said the delay in announcing the election results "underscores the fear that vote-rigging is taking place".
In Auckland last night, Zimbabwe Association of New Zealand president Titus Katiyo said the election results might have been delayed because Mugabe needed time to plan an escape as he would be in danger if he claimed victory.
"In the past elections, results came out as soon as they were counted. It is a different scenario now. There could be an element of rigging or they could have been held so the President can make plans. He might leave the country. The delay will give him time to think and plan what to do."
Auckland branch spokesman for the MDC, Ben Magaiza, said the delay in results was giving the Government time to "cook something up".
"[Mugabe] has to go. We've waited for far, far too long given the economic situation, the health situation, human rights. Everything has totally collapsed."
Mr Magaiza expected there to be rioting if Mugabe claimed to have won. "If Mugabe steals the vote again there is going to be trouble."
- REUTERS, with Independent
