A final count of the vote is not expected until late on Sunday or Monday [AFP]

Voting slips were being counted at the 9,000 polling booths where ballots had been cast on Saturday.
 
People had been voting for a president and members of a 210-strong parliament and councillors.
 
Once seen as the region's breadbasket, the country is now suffering from previously unheard of shortages of even the most basic foodstuffs such as cooking oil and bread.

The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) claimed an early lead ahead of the official announcement of results.

The first results were expected to trickle in later on Sunday, but the final official result may not be known until later in the week.

Tendai Biti, secretary general of the MDC, told a news conference early on Sunday: "This far, short of a miracle, we have won this election beyond any reasonable doubt."

Biti, who gave partial unofficial results based on returns posted at polling stations where counting had been completed, said: "In our view, this trend is irreversible."

Rigging claims
 
But even before the polls closed on Saturday, Mugabe's main challenger, Morgan Tsvangirai, who heads the MDC, and foreign observers had cast doubts on the validity of the ballot, alleging the electoral roll had been stuffed with phantom voters.

Claims of ghost voters have been made [AFP

With the West having accused 84-year-old Mugabe of rigging the last presidential election in 2002, monitors from European Union countries and the United States were all excluded this time as were nearly all foreign media.

Mugabe, who has ruled the former British colony since independence in 1980, is also up against his former finance minister, Simba Makoni.

As he cast his ballot on Saturday, Tsvangirai said he expected to win, but claimed his party had uncovered evidence of widespread vote-rigging, including the names of a million "ghost" voters registered in a northern region.

Mugabe confident

Tsvangirai, who was badly beaten up by members of Mugabe's security forces last year, told reporters: "Victory is assured in spite of the regime's attempt to subvert the will of the people."

Similar accusations came from a pan-African team of monitors, which complained to the ZEC that 8,450 voters had been registered on a patch of deserted land in northern  Harare, the capital.

"Despite the fact that the area is empty, voters were registered using addresses of the empty stands," stated the letter, a copy of which was shown to AFP by the observers on condition of anonymity.

Mugabe shrugged off any suggestion of vote-rigging, warning the MDC to respect any announcement on the result.

Shooting

The Zimbabwe Electoral Support Network (ZESN) said in a statement that it had received a "disturbing report" from Insiza north constituency involving a shooting incident after an altercation between the opposition and ruling party supporters during a rally on the eve of the elections.

"The fracas resulted in the death of a passerby who was hit by an MDC vehicle which had been allegedly shot at by Zanu-PF supporters," it said.

ZESN, which has been involved in civic education and deployed election monitors all over the country, said incidents of intimidation were recorded in Chegutu west constituency at Lowood Farm polling station.

"Inconsistencies in the voters' roll were also noted. Parents and their children were registered in different wards and constituencies," ZESN reported.

Economic problems

The election comes at a time when Zimbabwe is grappling with the impact of the world's highest rate of inflation - officially put at  100,580.2 per cent - and an unemployment level which has reached the 80 per cent mark.

The president has blamed the country's economic woes on the European Union and the United States, which imposed sanctions on his inner circle after he was accused of rigging his 2002 re-election.

He has portrayed the election as a chance to stand up to the West and in particular Britain.

Security forces have been placed on high alert for fear of a repeat of the bloodshed which followed Kenya's disputed elections last December.

Tsvangirai has urged his followers to refrain from violence while also warning that the government would be unable to contain an "overwhelming groundswell of popular feeling" if he is not declared  the winner.

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