By Cris Chinaka
HARARE (Reuters) - Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai andthe Zimbabwean government both strongly denied on Tuesday thatthey were in talks to arrange the resignation of veteranPresident Robert Mugabe after Saturday's election.
"There is no discussion and this is just a speculativestory," Tsvangirai said in response to media reports thatMugabe was about to step down in a deal with his Movement forDemocratic Change (MDC).
Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga told the BBC:"There is no deal. There is no need for a deal...there are nonegotiations whatsoever."
The reports followed projections by the ruling ZANU-PFparty and an independent monitoring group showing Tsvangiraiwould beat Mugabe but fall short of the 51 percent needed toavoid a runoff in three weeks.
Earlier a U.S. State Department official, referring to themedia reports, told reporters: "I know there were discussionsthat were going on but we will see what happens and when ithappens."
Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britainin 1980 but faced an unprecedented challenge in the electionsbecause of a two-pronged opposition attack and the economiccollapse of his once prosperous country, which has reduced muchof the population to misery.
Asked about the reports of a deal to allow Mugabe to stepdown after 28 years in power, Tsvangirai told a newsconference: "What deal? Let's not be influenced byspeculation."
He added: "There is no way we would enter into any dealbefore the ZEC (Zimbabwe Electoral Commission) announces afinal result."
He said he expected to win an absolute majority in lastSaturday's vote and avoid a runoff with Mugabe.
A senior Western diplomat in Harare told Reuters theinternational community was discussing ideas to try to persuadeMugabe to step down. "But I don't think there is anything firmon the table."
"A lot about what is being said is very speculative, basedon conjecture. What I know is that there are a number of ideasbeing floated around in the international community to try topersuade Mugabe to go," he said.
"At the most, if there is anything going on right now, itwould be very exploratory, people probing for opportunities."
RUNOFF
Two ZANU-PF party sources said on Tuesday its projectionsshowed Tsvangirai getting 48.3 percent, against Mugabe's 43percent, with former finance minister Simba Makoni taking eightpercent.
Independent election monitors projected a similar outcome.
Latest results from the parliamentary election on Saturdayshowed ZANU-PF with two more seats than the mainstream MDC ,with five votes going to a breakaway faction of the opposition.Some 161 seats have now been announced from a total of 210.
Six of Mugabe's ministers have lost their seats.
But no presidential results have been announced three daysafter polls closed, fuelling suspicions that Mugabe is tryavoid defeat by rigging.
Tsvangirai, like many foreign governments, urged theelectoral commission to speed up result announcements. He saidthe MDC would announce its own tally of the final result onWednesday.
The opposition and international observers said Mugaberigged the last presidential election in 2002. But someanalysts say the groundswell of discontent over an economy infreefall is too great for him to fix the result this timewithout risking major unrest.
Zimbabweans are suffering the world's highest inflation ofmore than 100,000 percent, food and fuel shortages, and anHIV/AIDS epidemic that has contributed to a steep decline inlife expectancy.
(Additional reporting by Nelson Banya, MacDonald Dzirutwe,Stella Mapenzauswa and Muchena Zigomo; Writing by Barry Moody;Editing by Matthew Tostevin)
