Mugabe threatens opposition over victory claims

Zimbabwe's opposition yesterday said it had won the most crucial election since independence, but President Robert Mugabe's government warned premature victory claims would be seen as an attempted coup.

Tendai Biti, secretary general of the main MDC opposition party, told diplomats and observers overnight that early results showed it was victorious. "We have won this election," he said. Voting ended at 7 p.m. (1700 GMT) on Saturday but no official results were announced yesterday.

Mr Biti said the MDC was concerned at delays in announcing results, which traditionally begin emerging soon after polls close. "We're aware the results are final in most constituencies but they are deliberately taking their time to announce. ... The whole idea of having an election is so you can have a result."

George Chiweshe, chairman of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), had to be rescued by security men in a Harare hotel when he was confronted by journalists and opposition supporters demanding results be published.

Zimbabwe's security forces, which have thrown their backing firmly behind President Mugabe, said before the election they would not allow a victory declaration before counting was complete. Government spokesman George Charamba also warned the opposition against such claims. "It is called a coup d'etat and we all know how coups are handled," he told the state-owned Sunday Mail.

Residents in the eastern opposition stronghold of Manicaland said riot police stopped a victory demonstration by about 200 MDC supporters. There was no violence, they said.

Mr Mugabe, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, faced his most formidable challenge in the election against MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and ruling Zanu-PF party defector Simba Makoni, who campaigned on the collapse of Zimbabwe's economy.

Although the odds seem stacked against Mr Mugabe, 84, analysts believe he will be declared the winner and the opposition accused him of widespread vote-rigging.

Observers from the Pan-African Parliament told the electoral commission they had found more than 8,000 non-existent voters registered on empty land in a Harare constituency.

Mr Biti said early results, based on 12 per cent of the vote, showed Mr Tsvangirai was projected to win 67 per cent nationally.

He said Mr Tsvangirai had made significant inroads in Mr Mugabe's rural strongholds by leading in the southern province of Masvingo and Mashonaland Central Province, north of Harare, where the MDC has not won a parliamentary seat since 2000.

If no candidate wins more than 51 percent of the vote, the election will go into a second round.