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| Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai dismisses Wednesday's election |
Zimbabwe's presidential election was a "huge farce", PM Morgan Tsvangirai has said, alleging vote-rigging by rival President Robert Mugabe's camp.
At a news conference, Mr Tsvangirai said that Wednesday's poll was "null and void".
The largest observer group earlier said up to a million people were prevented from voting.
Mr Mugabe's party - which is claiming a victory - denied the accusations, saying the voting went smoothly.
The head of the African Union observer mission, former
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, said his initial assessment was
that the vote was free and fair.
Other regional observers praised the peaceful nature of the election.
Vote counting started overnight, and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has five days to declare who won the poll.
Police have warned they would take action against anyone
trying to leak early results. It is illegal to publish unofficial
results.
Extra units - some in riot gear - have now been deployed in the capital, Harare.
Legal challengers are now likely to follow, the BBC's Andrew Harding in Johannesburg reports.
But much will depend on whether Zimbabwe's neighbours endorse the poll, our correspondent adds.
'Seriously compromised'
Speaking at his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)
headquarters in Harare, Mr Tsvangirai said: "Our conclusion is that this
has been a huge farce.
"The credibility of this election has been marred by
administrative and legal violations which affected the legitimacy of its
outcome.
"It's a sham election that does not reflect the will of the people."
Mr Tsvangirai spoke shortly after the monitors from the
Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) said the poll was "seriously
compromised".
In a statement, the ZESN said that potential voters were
turned away from 82% of polling stations in urban areas, where support
for Mr Tsvangirai is strong.
In rural areas - seen as strongholds of President Mugabe - the percentage was 38%, the group added.
It said that a result about one million of the country's
about 6.4 million eligible voters were prevented from casting their
ballots.
On Wednesday, villagers, MDC polling agents and the ZESN said there
had been voting irregularities in rural parts of Masvingo province.
They said local traditional leaders and village heads had
lined up people, forcibly marched them to the polling stations and given
them voting numbers as if to cross-check who they had voted for.
They also allege that in these areas some literate people
were forced to pretend they could not read or write and were assisted to
cast their vote in favour of Zanu-PF.
Zanu-PF spokesman Psychology Maziwisa denied that many voters had been deliberately prevented from registering.
He admitted that there were some irregularities, but stressed that both main parties had been affected.
"You've got to bear in mind that that was
partly due to the fact that resources were not being made available by
the finance minister who is Tendai Biti, who comes from the Movement for
Democratic Change party," Mr Maziwisa said told the BBC.
"If you look at the Zimbabwean situation you can only come to
one conclusion. And that is that over the last four years we've made a
lot of effort to make this environment in Zimbabwe as conducive as it
possibly can [be] for an election that is free and fair."
He was speaking as Zanu-PF's senior members were already celebrating their victory.
"We have romped [to victory] in a very emphatic manner," one member - who asked not to be named - told the AFP news agency.
'Dead' voters
Mr Mugabe, 89, has pledged to step down after 33 years in power if he and his party lost.
President Mugabe's Zanu-PF party and and Mr Tsvangirai's MDC
have shared an uneasy coalition government since 2009 under a deal
brokered to end the deadly violence that erupted after a disputed
presidential poll the previous year.
The first round of the 2008 poll was also praised for being peaceful -
trouble broke out after the results were announced, with Mr Tsvangirai
gaining more votes than Mr Mugabe.
On Tuesday, the MDC accused Zanu-PF of doctoring the roll of
registered voters, which was released by the ZEC only on the eve of the
polls after weeks of delay.
The MDC claimed the roll dated back to 1985 and was full of anomalies.
A BBC correspondent has seen the document and says it features the names of thousands of dead people.
MDC Secretary-General Tendai Biti said there were as many as
two million such names, while some genuine voters were not on the rolls.
The MDC has already handed its evidence to observers from the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
But a senior Zanu-PF member has denied the allegations,
saying that that appointees from both parties were in the electoral
commission.
In addition to Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai, there are three
other candidates standing for the presidency: Welshman Ncube, leader of
the breakaway MDC-Mutambara; Dumiso Dabengwa of the Zimbabwe African
People's Union (Zapu), and Kisinoti Munodei Mukwazhe, who represents the
small Zimbabwe Development Party (ZDP).
To be declared a winner, a presidential candidate must win
more than 50% of the vote. If no candidate reaches this mark, a run-off
will be held on 11 September.
The elections were the first to be held under the new constitution approved in a referendum in March this year.
On Wednesday, voters were also electing the country's new parliament.
BBC
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