Zimbabwe releases poll results

BBC:

Zimbabwe's electoral commission has told an all-party meeting that Morgan Tsvangirai won almost 48% in March's presidential election, reports say.

The result would mean the Movement for Democratic Change leader is 2% short of the 50% required to avoid a run-off against President Mugabe, who won 43%.

A source at the meeting told the BBC the figures were tabled at the start of the process to verify the final result.

Earlier, Mr Tsvangirai insisted he had won an outright victory in the poll.

On Wednesday, government sources told reporters that Mr Tsvangirai had beaten the president, but had not won enough of the vote to avoid a second round.

The opposition and human rights groups have accused the authorities of waging a campaign of violence to ensure Mr Mugabe wins any run-off.

...

This is bad news for Zimbabwe since the prospects of a fair runoff election is remote based on the abuse Mugabe has heaped on voters since the first votes. Tsvangirai has indicated he will not campaign which probably would mean that Mugabe would continue his despotic rule in Zimbabwe.