Zanu-PF discusses Mugabe future
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe has convened a meeting of his ruling party on how to react to presidential poll results, still not officially declared.
A senior member of the party has told the BBC that Saturday's election ended in a "stalemate".
He said the party was ready for Mr Mugabe to contest a run-off.
Meanwhile the opposition MDC says it intends to ask the High Court to order the immediate release of results of the poll, which it says it won outright.
It says its candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, took 50.3% of the vote - just enough to avoid a second round in two weeks' time.
An independent projection says Mr Tsvangirai gained 49%, just below the threshold, with Mr Mugabe on 42%.
 |  If indeed Tsvangirai has been elected that's fine and if there is a run-off that's fine. That is a matter we must await  Thabo Mbeki South African President |
The MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) said its offices in Harare were ransacked on Thursday. It denied that Mr Tsvangirai had gone into hiding and said he was "safe".
At least two foreign nationals were also arrested in a raid on a hotel in the capital, accused of working as journalists without accreditation. One of them is the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist, Barry Bearak.
The Foreign Office in London says it is investigating reports that the second man is British.
The BBC's Grant Ferrett in Johannesburg says the raids mark the start of the campaign for a possible run-off and were intended to have a cooling effect on the opposition and the media.
'Galvanised'
Zanu-PF secretary for administration and cabinet minister Didymus Mutasa told the BBC's Network Africa programme: "We know them [results], there is a stalemate."
He said the party was prepared for a run-off and would be "galvanised" by the election results.
| ELECTION RESULTS SO FAR  Presidential results: None so far Winner needs more than 50% to avoid run-off Senate results: Zanu-PF: 5 MDC: 5 Source: ZEC  |
Mr Mutasa also said that Zanu-PF had won the Senate elections, the results of which must be announced before those of the presidential contest.
So far, 10 of the 60 Senate results have been announced, with each party on five seats.
It had been reported that Friday was the legal deadline for the presidential results to be announced but this has been denied by Zimbabwean constitutional experts.
South African President Thabo Mbeki has said he hoped Zimbabwe's legal processes would be respected and the official results accepted.
There had been speculation that Mr Mugabe might step down, rather than take part in a run-off.
However, Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga has said that if results from the presidential poll showed a second round was necessary, Mr Mugabe would definitely stand.
"President Mugabe is going to fight to the last, and he's not giving up, he's not going anywhere, he hasn't lost the election," said.
The meeting of Zanu-PF's 49-member politburo comes two days after the ruling party lost its majority in parliament for the first time since independence in 1980.
The MDC took 99 seats, while the Zanu-PF party won only 97. A smaller MDC faction, which backed former Mugabe loyalist Simba Makoni in the presidential election, won 10 seats, leaving them with a potentially influential future role.
However, Zanu-PF gained 46% of the vote in the parliamentary race, against 43% for the MDC, which supporters of Mr Mugabe say gives him hope of victory in a run-off.
Televised meeting
Mr Mugabe made his first public appearance since the elections on Thursday, when he was shown meeting election observers from the African Union in Harare on state television.
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Sierra Leone President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, who headed the AU observer mission, said Mr Mugabe had appeared "relaxed".
Mr Tejan Kabbah said he had also met Mr Tsvangirai, according to AFP, prompting further speculation that some form of African mediation effort is under way.
The former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, meanwhile called on the election commission to declare its results "faithfully and accurately".
"We live in an open world today and indeed the eyes of the world are on Zimbabwe, on its electoral commission, on its president," he said. "I urge them to do the right thing... The election results should be released now."
Mr Mugabe, 84, came to power 28 years ago at independence on a wave of optimism.
But in recent years Zimbabwe has been plagued by the world's highest inflation, as well as acute food and fuel shortages.
SOURCE: BBC NEWS
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