Election officials: Runoff in Zimbabwe presidential election

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - Electoral officials say Zimbabwe's opposition leader won 47.9 percent of votes in presidential elections - not enough to avoid a run-off against longtime ruler President Robert Mugabe.

The Electoral Commission says that Mugabe won 43.2 percent of votes. It said it would announce a date for a run-off election later.

The commission had long delayed Friday's announcement of the results from the March 29 balloting.

Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai says he won the vote outright and will not campaign in a run-off. He charges that Mugabe has used the delay to prosecute a campaign of violence to scare voters from further opposing his rule.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) - Zimbabwe's opposition is questioning the Electoral Commission's tally of presidential results that give its candidate the lead but not enough votes to avoid a runoff election, an opposition spokesman said Friday.

More than a month after the vote, Zimbabweans are still waiting for an official announcement of the results, which will not be made until a verification process is complete. Electoral and party officials resumed their meetings Friday morning after adjourning Thursday afternoon.

Party officials are asked to confirm the electoral commission's tally as part of the verification. The opposition's objections make it likely it will be several more days before an announcement.

The opposition and rights groups have accused longtime President Robert Mugabe of withholding the results to buy time to steal a runoff through intimidation or fraud.

Opposition spokesman George Sibotshiwe said the commission's tally gave his candidate Morgan Tsvangirai just under 48 percent of the vote and Mugabe about 43 percent. Tsvangirai's party says its own count gives him 50.3 percent, just enough to win outright.

Sibotshiwe said Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change was asking the commission to account for 120,000 votes it said went to Mugabe, but which Sibotshiwe said even Mugabe's party had not claimed.

"We just said to the electoral commission we're not moving forward until we understand where these 120,000 votes came from," Sibotshiwe said, adding that if that block of votes went to Tsvangirai, he would avoid a runoff.

Sibotshiwe expected the verification to take three or four more days, saying: "There's a lot that needs to be looked at."

Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga said Friday that Mugabe's party's tally indicated a runoff would be necessary. Independent observers also have been saying that Tsvangirai won the most votes, but not the 50 percent plus one vote needed to avoid a runoff.

Matonga said the constitution required a second round be held no sooner than 21 days from the announcement of the results, but the electoral commission could take up to a year if officials believed that was necessary.

Mugabe has pledged to accept the verdict of any runoff vote and called on the opposition to do the same, Senegalese officials said Thursday.

Senegal's foreign minister flew to Zimbabwe earlier this week to help mediate the country's growing political crisis. He met with Mugabe for two hours Thursday and urged the quick release of results, according to a Senegalese government statement.

The opposition says a government and ruling party campaign of terror and violence since the first round of voting has left the movement in a disarray, with its main leaders staying out of the country for fear of arrest.

Independent rights groups say postelection violence makes it unlikely a runoff could be free and fair.

The octogenarian Mugabe, in power since Zimbabwe gained independence from Britain in 1980, has been accused of brutality and increasing autocracy. But the main campaign issue for many here had been the economic collapse of what had once been a regional breadbasket.