Zimbabwe election: Opposition wins but a run-off vote is required

THE opposition party won Zimbabwe's presidential election, official results showed today, however the lack of a majority outcome will prompt a run-off ballot.

The figures said although president Robert Mugabe lost to his rival Morgan Tsvangirai, the margin was not enough to avoid a second-round run-off vote.

That puts Mugabe, who was unable to control the outcome of the first vote to win an outright majority, in exactly the position his supporters wanted.

Tsvangirai's MDC party says Mugabe has been using the time since the first vote on 29 March for a campaign of violence and intimidation to ensure he wins the runoff.

The country's Electoral Commission gave Tsvangirai 47.9% of the vote and Mugabe 43.2%. Under election law a candidate has to win more than 50% for outright victory.

"No candidate has received a majority of votes counted. A second election will be held at a date to be announced," the commission said in a statement.

The MDC, who insist Tsvangirai did win enough votes for victory declared: "We have been overruled. We are in dispute. It is not fair."

Tsvangirai said previously that he will not participate in any run-off. Even before the results were announced, his party challenged the process, citing 120,000 unaccounted votes that could prove he won outright.

"We just said to the electoral commission we're not moving forward until we understand where these 120,000 votes came from," a party spokesman said hours before the results were released.

He also said the party, which says its calculations show Mr Tsvangirai won with 50.3% of the vote, anticipated needing another three or four days to examine the results as part of the verification process.

Human rights groups said post-election violence in Zimbabwe has made it unlikely a run-off could be free and fair.

Mugabe has been accused of brutality and increasing autocracy. He pledged to accept the verdict of any run-off vote and called on the opposition to do the same, Senegalese officials said.