Mugabe tightens grip with poll win

HARARE - Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's ruling party has won parliamentary elections, tightening his grip on power, but the opposition says it has been cheated for the third time in five years.

After a day which began with early successes for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Mugabe's ZANU-PF racked up huge returns from rural areas and looked set to grab a two-thirds majority in parliament.

This would give the party the power to change the constitution and cement its power before Mugabe's expected retirement in 2008.

Official results showed ZANU-PF with 62 of 98 constituencies declared, while the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) was at 35. One seat went to an independent. A total of 120 seats were contested in Thursday's vote.

The election was roundly condemned by Western countries. Washington said the poll was "seriously tainted" and Britain accused Mugabe of cheating voters and prolonging a crisis that has ruined the once-prosperous country.

The ZANU-PF victory was bolstered by the 30 members of parliament who are automatically appointed by the president. The party needs 70 elected seats to secure a two-thirds majority in the 150-member house.

The MDC, which emerged from the labour movement to become the most potent challenge to Mugabe since independence from Britain in 1980, was likely to see its parliament representation drop from the current 51 seats, analysts said.

MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai hinted his supporters might take to the streets to express their outrage, saying the party had given up on legal challenges after unsuccessfully battling results in both 2000 and 2002 it said were also rigged.

"We believe the people of Zimbabwe must defend their votes, their right to a free and a fair election ... this is what has been denied," he told supporters in Harare.

Tsvangirai, who has accused Mugabe of using repressive laws, political threats and even access to food supplies to engineer a victory, said the MDC had noted everything from intimidation to thousands of extra votes cast in battleground constituencies.

OPPOSITION TO CONSIDER OPTIONS

Party officials said the MDC leadership would consider its options and issue a statement on Saturday.

ZANU-PF officials have rejected the charges of fraud, saying the polls were run by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission set up this year as part of a package of democratic reforms.

"If they say there was fraud, where were their polling agents when it was being done?" ZANU-PF elections director Elliott Manyika said.

Thursday's voting was peaceful in all the country's 10 provinces, in contrast to Zimbabwe's last two polls which were marked by bloodshed and widespread charges of overt fraud and intimidation against ZANU-PF.

At the MDC regional headquarters in the second city of Bulawayo, early optimism gave way to despondency as ZANU-PF racked up victories in its rural strongholds.

"We are extremely disappointed by the results as they have come out. As we have always complained, it is very clear to us that this is yet another stolen election," MDC Secretary-General Welshman Ncube told Reuters.

Britain, Zimbabwe's former colonial master and frequent critic of Mugabe, joined Western powers including the United States, the European Union, Germany and Australia which have already labelled the poll a travesty.

"Mugabe has yet again denied ordinary Zimbabweans a free and fair opportunity to vote, further prolonging the political and economic crisis he has inflicted on their country," Foreign Minister Jack Straw said in a statement.

"Some say this is about Africa versus the West. It is not. It is about democracy versus dictatorship," he said.

Voter turnout calculated from official figures was around 42 percent, compared to 48 percent in the last poll in 2000.

Mugabe's former propaganda czar Jonathan Moyo, recently purged from the ruling party in a power struggle, won a seat in rural Matabeleland running as an independent -- setting him up as a vocal opponent to the long-time president.

ZANU-PF suffered a high-profile defeat as Speaker of Parliament Emmerson Mnangagwa, once tipped as Mugabe's preferred successor but sidelined in a power struggle, lost a contest with the same MDC candidate who beat him five years ago.

A total of 5.78 million of Zimbabwe's 12.6 million people were registered to vote, but critics say the number was inflated by about 1 million "ghost voters" to boost ZANU-PF.

- REUTERS