Controversy As Mugabe Party Claims Zimbabwe Election Win

President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party claimed a landslide victory on Thursday in Zimbabwe's elections, but its rival, Prime Minster Morgan Tsvangira's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), said there had been "monumental fraud".

Wednesday's voting was peaceful across the southern African nation, but the early conflicting claims from the two sides heralded an acrimonious dispute over the outcome and raised fears of a repeat of violence that marred a 2008 election.

Releasing unofficial results early in Zimbabwe is illegal, and police have said they will arrest anybody who makes premature claims about the result.

Election authorities were due to announce results within five days from Wednesday. But a senior source in Mugabe's ZANU-PF party, who asked not to be named, said the outcome was already clear.

"We've taken this election. We've buried the MDC. We never had any doubt that we were going to win," the source said on Thursday.

Riot police took up positions outside the party's headquarters in central Harare and other key locations in the capital. MDC offices appeared to be almost deserted.

An independent election monitor in Zimbabwe, who also could not be named for fear of arrest, said early results were looking like a "disaster" for Tsvangirai, who was making his third bid to unseat the 89-year-old Mugabe.

Responding to the ZANU-PF claim, a high-ranking source in Tsvangirai's MDC party described the election as "a monumental fraud":
"Zimbabweans have been taken for a ride by ZANU-PF and Mugabe. We do not accept it," the source, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters.

The MDC was to hold an emergency meeting later on Thursday.

Several political sources said key MDC members had lost their seats. even in the capital, Tsvangirai's main support base since he burst onto the political scene 15 years ago.