Harare: Zimbabwe election officials and the opposition locked horns today over the outcome of a March 29 presidential poll with the main challenger claiming an outright victory over veteran leader Robert Mugabe.

Election officials told all-party talks designed to reach agreement on the voting figures that opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai had won 47.8 per cent and Mugabe had won 43.2 per cent, according to several sources in the meeting.

But the Movement for Democratic Change party (MDC) in turn presented its own figures claiming Tsvangirai had won 50.3 per cent, just scraping past the threshold needed to avoid a second round run-off, the sources added.

Although the talks were due to resume at 1230 IST tomorrow, the disagreement paves the way for yet further delays to the final results of a vote that took place nearly five weeks ago.

Tsvangirai, who is currently in South Africa, again insisted in an interview he saw no need for a run-off but refusal to participate in a second round will merely hand victory on a plate to his 84-year-old rival Mugabe.

Representatives for Mugabe and Tsvangirai, as well as two minor presidential candidates, met at a Harare hotel for the talks chaired by chief elections officer Lovemore Sekeramayi in the presence of observers and diplomats.

Source : PTI