By Cris Chinaka
HARARE (Reuters) - Results are expected on Thursday fromZimbabwe's senate election but the vital outcome of thepresidential vote still appears far off.
State radio ZBC quoted the electoral commission as sayingthe upper house result would be announced on Thursday. Butthere was no official word on the fate of President RobertMugabe, who is fighting to survive the biggest crisis of his28-year rule.
Officials say they will only announce the presidentialoutcome after the senate vote is out. The presidential tally iscounted twice, once in the constituencies and then in Harare.
There has been no word on that process since lastSaturday's elections, held amid a severe economic crisis forwhich Mugabe's opponents blame him.
The delay has fuelled suggestions that Mugabe is trying torig the result, although official media have said the veteranleader has failed to win a majority for the first time and arunoff is likely.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) saysits leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, has already won the presidentialvote according to its own tallies from polling stations. Itcalled on Mugabe to concede.
The Senate has 66 seats, six of them appointed by Mugabe.It has the power to block legislation from the lower house,where Mugabe's ZANU-PF lost control on Wednesday for the firsttime since independence.
The Zimbabwean constitution concentrates much power in thepresident and the parliament has been seen in the past as arubber stamp body.
Respected South African financial daily Business Dayreported that Mugabe had admitted to family and advisers thathe had lost and was weighing up whether to throw in the towelor contest a runoff against Tsvangirai.
RUNOFF?
The MDC says Tsvangirai has won the absolute majorityneeded to avoid a runoff but ZANU-PF and independentprojections say he will fall short.
"Mugabe has conceded to his closest advisers, the army,police and intelligence chiefs. He has also told his family andpersonal advisers that he has lost the election," Business Dayquoted an unidentified source as saying.
The newspaper said hardliners in Mugabe's government wantedhim to see the contest through to the bitter end but personaladvisers and his family want Mugabe to quit. Analysts believehe will go down fighting in a runoff.
Mugabe's aides have angrily dismissed the MDC's claim thatit had won the presidential poll.
Mugabe, known for his fierce and defiant rhetoric, has notbeen seen in public since voting.
Final results of the election for parliament's lower houseshowed the MDC won 99 seats. ZANU-PF won 97 and a breakaway MDCfaction won 10. One independent candidate won a seat. Theoutcome of the senate vote will be issued next.
All the signs are that Mugabe, a liberation war leaderstill respected in Africa, is in the worst trouble of his ruleafter facing an unprecedented challenge in the elections.
Widely blamed for the economic collapse of his onceprosperous nation, Mugabe has faced growing discontent with theworld's highest inflation rate of more than 100,000 percent, avirtually worthless currency and severe food and fuelshortages.
Hopes of a peaceful transition to power in Zimbabwe helpedlift neighbouring South Africa's rand currency on Thursday asinvestors saw a positive impact on the region.
"I think that (Zimbabwe) certainly has the most influenceon the rand at the moment," a Johannesburg-based trader said."So there is potential for the rand to strengthen further ifthere is a peaceful transition."
Millions of economic refugees have fled Zimbabwe's miseryinto South Africa, many of them illegally.
Jonathan Moyo, Mugabe's former information minister who isnow an independent in parliament, said authorities were notcoping well with defeat. Security chiefs, who have said theywould not accept an opposition victory, were anxious.
"You have generals who unwisely, or rather foolishly, toldthe world that they would only salute one candidate, whohappened to have lost the election," he told reporters.
(Additional reporting by Nelson Banya, Muchena Zigomo,MacDonald Dzirutwe, Stella Mapenzauswa and Gordon Bell inJohannesburg; writing by Marius Bosch; Editing by Barry Moody)
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