Mugabe, MDC in close race

Zimbabwe's opposition MDC and ruling ZANU-PF were running neck-and-neck, according to the first election results issued by the Electoral Commission yesterday.

The commission started announcing the results from Saturday's election shortly before 0500 GMT after a long delay prompted the opposition to accuse President Robert Mugabe of trying to rig the vote to stay in power.

The first six parliamentary constituencies were evenly split between Mugabe's ZANU-PF and Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), said the commission.