Zimbabwe's opposition claims early lead amid rising tension

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Zimbabwe's main opposition party claimed an early lead Sunday in elections, seeking to thwart any possible vote rigging by President Robert Mugabe amid silence from the Electoral Commission and the deployment of security forces.

Earlier people celebrated in the streets, dancing, singing and giving each other the openhanded wave that is the opposition party's symbol.

But by sundown, as frustrations grew more than 24 hours after polls closed, riot police and other security forces were patrolling the capital's densely populated suburbs, according to independent election monitors.

In previous elections, partial results have been announced within hours of voting ending.

The head of the Pan-African Parliament observer mission warned the delay was creating "anxiety" and warned of a scenario similar to Kenya, where a delayed announcement of results from a disputed December election led to an explosion of violence. More than 1,000 people were killed.

"These are the delays that start causing problems," Marwick Khu¿malo, head of the Pan-African Parliament observers, told South African Broadcasting Corp. TV.

Discontent with Mugabe has grown nationwide and the election was seen as the toughest challenge to his 28-year rule. Unemployment stands at 80 percent -- the same percentage that survives on less than $1 a day. Inflation is the highest in the world at more than 100,000 percent and people suffer crippling shortages of food, water, electricity, fuel and medicine.

"The Mugabe regime is a disgrace to the people of Zimbabwe and a disgrace to southern Africa and to the continent of Africa as whole," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Sunday while in the Middle East for peace talks.

Mugabe calls his opponents stooges of former colonial ruler Britain and says the nation must make sacrifices to overcome its colonial legacy.

Running against Mugabe are chief opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, 55, who narrowly lost disputed 2002 elections, and former ruling party loyalist and finance minister Simba Makoni, 58. If no presidential candidate wins 50 percent plus one vote, there will be a runoff.

Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change said he was leading the presidential race with 67 percent of votes, basing its unofficial count on returns from 35 percent of polling stations nationwide.

The party also claimed to have taken some of Mugabe's rural strongholds. The claims were based on results posted overnight on the doors of polling stations.

But the outcome of the race was impossible to predict without results from other rural areas, where three-quarters of Zimbabwe's population live and Mugabe garners most of his support.

Security and government officials loyal to Mugabe have warned Tsvangirai against declaring a victory. "It is called a coup d'etat and we all know how coups are handled," chief presidential spokesman George Charamba was quoted as saying in the state-controlled Sunday Mail newspaper.

Two officials of the ruling party said Mugabe was consulting with his security chiefs Sunday night amid fears of how they might react to any news of his defeat. The chiefs all have said they would serve only Mugabe. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Western diplomats, who also spoke on condition of anonymity for that same reason, reported that many younger army officers showed open defiance of orders that they had to vote for Mugabe.

On Sunday, commission chairman Judge George Chiweshe was forced to flee from a Harare hotel after he was mobbed by journalists and ordinary people. "We want results," they yelled.

"This has been a more complicated election," Chiweshe said. "We will be releasing the results as soon as we can." He said it was taking time because Zimbabweans -- for the first time -- voted for president, the two houses of Parliament and local councilors, so four ballots have to be counted for each voter instead of one.

Observers from the South African Democratic Alliance opposition party said accounts from observers and others indicated the opposition "has won a majority in most areas."

"If this is not reflected in the results, this will be yet another indication that the election was rigged," they added.

Mugabe has dismissed allegations of vote rigging. "We do not rig," he said Saturday after voting and promising to respect results. "If you lose an election and are rejected by the people, it is time to leave politics."

Observers from the Pan-African Parliament, though, have questioned thousands of names on the official voter roll, and the government has barred several international media organizations and some observers from the U.S. and Europe.

The Southern African Development Community's observer mission said it was concerned by the threats made by the country's security chiefs, delays in producing the voters' roll, the presence of police officers in polling stations and lack of impartiality in the state media.

Nevertheless, those observers told reporters the elections "were in general a free expression of the people of Zimbabwe."