HARARE, March 30: Zimbabwe’s main opposition party claimed an early lead on Sunday in elections, including in some of President Robert Mugabe’s rural strongholds.

But with no official results announced by sundown, tensions were rising in the capital, Harare. Riot police and other security forces were deployed to the densely populated suburbs, according to independent election monitors.

Voting in Saturday’s elections — which presented Mugabe, 84, with the toughest challenge ever to his 28-year rule amid a destroyed economy with a rate of inflation soaring beyond 100,000 per cent — was generally peaceful.

Running against Mugabe were opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, 55, who narrowly lost disputed 2002 elections, and former ruling party loyalist and Finance Minister Simba Makoni, 58, who has the potential to take votes from both the opposition and the ruling party.

However, African observers questioned thousands of names on the official voter roll, and the government has barred several international media organisations and some observers from the US and Europe.

The head of the Pan-African Parliament observer mission said he was sure most results were known. He warned election officials against a delay.

“We are trying to exercise as much constraint as possible so as not to contribute to the deteriorating security situation,” said Noel Kututwa, explaining why his Zimbabwe Elections Support Network, an independent monitoring organisation, was not releasing any results.

“Clearly the delay is fuelling speculation that something might be going on,” he said.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change said party leader Tsvangirai was leading the presidential race with 67 per cent of votes, basing its unofficial count on returns from 35 per cent of polling stations nationwide.

Reporters mobbed Electoral Commission chairman Judge George Chiweshe, demanding to know when he would start announcing official results. Others pursued him, shouting: “We want results.”

Chiweshe said it was taking time because Zimbabweans – for the first time — voted for president, the two houses of parliament and local councillors, so four ballots have to be counted for each voter instead of one.“This has been a more complicated election. We will be releasing the results as soon as we can,” he said, speaking at the hotel where the opposition held its news conference.

Election observers who visited the commission’s headquarters early Sunday said it appeared to have only a skeleton staff and seemed in no rush.

Mugabe dismissed rigging charges. “We do not rig,” he said on Saturday after voting and promising to respect results. “If you lose an election and are rejected by the people, it is time to leave politics.”—AP