Official: Mugabe will retain power if no run-off vote

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (CNN) -- Zimbabwe's ruling and main opposition parties began meeting with the country's electoral commission Thursday to verify the results of the March 29 presidential election.

The process is the final step before the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission officially releases the results, which it is under intense international pressure to do.

A senior official with President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party -- who did not want to be named -- told CNN on Thursday that the commission's results show that challenger Morgan Tsvangirai received 47.8 percent of the vote compared with 43.2 percent for Mugabe.

That would mean the two candidates would have to compete in a runoff, since neither received more than 50 percent.

Asked about the ZANU-PF official's data, an official with Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change said ZEC has not released any total figures and the verification process is still under way.

The MDC has said it will not participate in a runoff. If it holds to that, it would mean Mugabe retaining the presidency, ZEC chief George Chiweshe said.

Tsvangirai has said he won the election with 50.3 percent of the vote -- just more than the 50 percent plus one vote that a candidate needs to win.

The MDC has argued that a run-off is unnecessary and that the government would rig the outcome

Neither Mugabe nor Tsvangirai attended the ZEC meeting, sending representatives instead. However independent candidate Simba Makoni attended himself.

Journalists were allowed inside for only a few minutes as the process began, The Associated Press reports.

No indication was given as to when the process would be completed.

Thursday was a national holiday, Labor Day, in Zimbabwe. A few small demonstrations were held, including one by a union group calling for lower taxes and better access to AIDS medications.

The government has not released results from the March 29 presidential election, and reports of violence against opposition supporters have swirled in Zimbabwe amid heightened tensions since then.

The opposition has alleaged that Mugabe and his supporters have orchestrated a plan to remain in control of government and weed out opposition supporters by general intimidation.

Tendai Biti, secretary-general of the MDC, told CNN that the U.N. Security Council must take action.

"If the U.N. fails Zimbabwe, then the U.N. is failing itself, failing the spirit of the founding fathers." he said.

ZEC began submitting the results of its presidential vote recount Thursday to MDC and ZANU-PF. The two parties will compare the results they have tallied from polling stations with the final ZEC count, Chiweshe said.

Once all parties are satisfied, they will sign verification forms and the results can be released, Chiweshe said.

It is highly unlikely that MDC and ZANU-PF will agree on the results, but Chiweshe said ZEC can publicly announce its results in the event of a stalemate. E-mail to a friend

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All About Zimbabwe • Robert Mugabe • Morgan Tsvangirai • United Nations