Opposition offices raided in Zimbabwe

Independent election observers say their projections based on election results posted at a representative sample of local polling stations indicate Tsvangirai won the most votes in the presidential contest, but not enough to avoid a run-off.

Mugabe, who appeared on state television Thursday for the first time since the elections, was said to be pondering conflicting advice from his advisers on whether to quietly cede power or face a run-off, both humiliating prospects for the 84-year-old president.

Diplomats said Thursday's events indicated he might be considering of a third option: declaring a state of emergency and suppressing the opposition.

Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga said Mugabe was ready for a run-off.

"President Mugabe is going to fight. He is not going anywhere. He has not lost," Matonga said on British Broadcasting Corp. "We are going to go hard and fight and get the majority required."

Ruling party meeting planned Friday
Reports said leaders of the ruling party scheduled a meeting Friday to discuss the run-off. Nathan Shamuyarira, the party's secretary for information and publicity, said "we have many meetings tomorrow," but declined details.

International concern mounted about the continuing delays in releasing official election results.

"We need to see an official tally, see it soon and have assurances made that this is actually a correct counting of the votes," U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said.

Annan, the former U.N. secretary-general, said the delay was dangerous and urged officials "to declare the election results faithfully and accurately."

"We live in an open world today and indeed the eyes of the world are on Zimbabwe, on its electoral commission, on its president," Annan said. "I urge them to do the right thing ... The election results should be released now."

The election commission said it was still receiving ballot boxes from the provinces, raising questions about where the votes had been. The opposition has charged Mugabe planned to rig the results, and Western election observers have accused him of stealing previous elections.

According to official results, a total of 2,405,147 valid votes were cast in Saturday's parliamentary contests, supporting opposition charges that the voter roll of 5.9 million names had been hugely inflated with dead and fictitious people.

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