Zimbabwe poll may head to a runoff

Harare: Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai will beat President Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe's crucial election, but be forced into a runoff vote in three weeks, according to a ruling party projection.

Two Zanu-PF party sources said yesterday the projection showed Tsvangirai falling short of the 51 per cent needed for outright victory. It was similar to projections by an independent monitoring group.

No official results have yet emerged on Saturday's presidential poll. The opposition charges that the delay veils attempts by Mugabe to hang on to power by rigging the vote.

Formidable challenge

Mugabe, in power for 28 years, faced his most formidable challenge in the election, with both Tsvangirai and third candidate Simba Makoni, a former finance minister, accusing him of reducing the population to misery by wrecking Zimbabwe's economy.

Official results on Tuesday showed Zanu-PF with a narrow lead of two seats in the parliamentary poll with 131 out of 210 constituencies declared. But a breakaway opposition party took another five seats.

A third government minister lost his seat.