Monitors warn on Election delay

From the BBC:

..."We have won this election," said the secretary general of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Tendai Biti. "This trend is irreversible."

The party had won most parliamentary seats in Harare and Bulawayo and was also ahead in some rural areas, including Mr Mugabe's home province of Mashonaland West, he said.

BBC Southern Africa correspondent Peter Biles says the MDC's claims are based on partial, unofficial results.

The more slowly-counted votes from the rural areas, where President Mugabe has always had majority support, may decide the final outcome.

BBC contributors say opposition activists have been celebrating in the towns of Bulawayo, Mutare and Masvingo.

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The elections will no doubt be free and fair. The allegations being peddled are unfounded

Sosten Musiniwa, Harare

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A spokesman for Mr Makoni told the BBC News website that the MDC had "swept the board" in the parliamentary election, with several ministers losing their seats.

But Zimbabwe's chief elections officer expressed concern "that some stakeholders have gone on to announce purported results... when in fact the results are being verified and collated".

The MDC says the commission was appointed by Mr Mugabe and is not to be trusted...