HARARE, April 30: Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai beat Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe’s presidential election, winning 47 per cent of the vote against the president’s 43 per cent, senior government sources said on Wednesday.

One source, declining to be named like the others, told Reuters a run-off would be needed because Tsvangirai did not win enough votes for an outright victory.

Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has said he won the March 29 vote outright and accuses Mugabe – in power for 28 years – of delaying results to rig victory.

The standoff over the election has raised fears of widespread bloodshed. Tsvangirai has said there is no need for a second round because he won outright but has also suggested he could take part if there were international observers led by the UN.

If Tsvangirai refused to take part in a run-off, Mugabe would be declared the winner, according to election rules.

A top official in Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party said: “Those figures are in line with the official figures and the MDC knows that the official tally is more or less around that but they have been inflating their numbers to claim a false victory.”

There was no immediate comment on the leaked result from the Electoral Commission, which has invited candidates to start verifying the count from Thursday. Opposition officials were not immediately available for comment.—Reuters