now we get down to waiting to see what kind of electoral rabbit Mugabe pulls out of his hat...


MDC claims it is heading for clear victory over Mugabe in Zimbabwe election

Zimbabwe's main opposition party claimed today to be heading to a clear victory over Robert Mugabe after presidential and parliamentary elections.

Official results from Saturday's only trickled out, however, prompting accusations that the veteran President was trying to fix the poll results in a desperate bid to cling to power.

With 24 of the 210 parliamentary seats so far declared by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, Mr Mugabe's Zanu-PF was level-pegging with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), led by Morgan Tsvangirai, on 12 seats each.

No official figures were given for the presidential contest.