The results from Zimbabwe's election were supposed to be announced yesterday. But surprise, surprise! It appears that after initial results showing the opposition far ahead, the most recent tally has an exciting race developing between Mugabe's ruling party and the opposition MDC party:

The first official results emerged some 36 hours after polls closed and no details were given on the presidential vote, in which Mugabe faces his most formidable political challenge of 28 years in power. Former colonial ruler Britain and the European Union called for results to be released as soon as possible.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said unofficial tallies showed its leader Morgan Tsvangirai had 60 percent of the presidential vote, twice the total for Mugabe, with more than half the results counted.

Mugabe, 84, faces unprecedented pressure because of Zimbabwe's economic collapse and a two-pronged attack by veteran rival Tsvangirai and ZANU-PF defector Simba Makoni.

Latest official results showed the opposition MDC and Mugabe's ZANU-PF running neck-and-neck, with 19 seats each from a total parliament of 210 constituencies.

The MDC said its tally showed it had won 96 parliamentary constituencies out of 128 counted. Makoni had 10 percent of the unofficial presidential vote count.
"In our view, as we stated before, we cannot see the national trend changing. This means the people have spoken, they've spoken against the dictatorship," said MDC Secretary-General Tendai Biti.