A three-horse race for Zimbabwe's presidency was set in motion yesterday when candidates registered for elections that for the first time pose a real challenge to the octogenarian President Mugabe.

The main threat to his rule comes from a rebel within his own party, Simba Makoni, 57, an articulate former Finance Minister sacked by Mr Mugabe. Mr Makoni, a member of the ruling party's politburo until last week when he denounced Mr Mugabe's “failure of leadership”, arrived at the high court to register his nomination in a Toyota Sedan, accompanied by his wife, Chipo.

Mr Mugabe will be the sole candidate for his ruling Zanu (PF) party. Morgan Tsvangirai will stand for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, now making his fourth attempt to unseat Mr Mugabe, 83. In contrast, the head of a rival faction of the MDC, Arthur Mutambara, announced that he and his party had decided they would not be fielding a presidential candidate and would instead urge supporters to back the independent candidate, Mr Makoni. “We are going to support, vigorously and throughout the country, the presidential bid of Dr Makoni,” he said. “We feel we owe it to Zimbabweans to close ranks with Dr Makoni so that Zimbabweans can deliver change.”

The elections for president, parliament, and 1,958 local government wards on March 29 are seen as the most crucial in the country's history since independence in 1980.

Once one of Africa's most highly developed nations, Zimbabwe is now racked by frequent shortages of food, drinking water and power. Roads are potholed and streets strewn with uncollected rubbish and awash with sewage.

The collapse of the economy has begun to affect ruling party heavyweights whose access to money, farms, 4x4 vehicles and diamonds is now under threat. The dire state of affairs was underlined this week by the publication of inflation figures for last year of 66,212 per cent.

Presidential candidates have to pay a non-returnable deposit of Z$1 billion, which is worth £50. Aspiring MPs and senators have to produce Z$100 million, or about £5.

The two factions of the MDC failed to present a unified platform after Mr Tsvangirai broke an agreement on the shared allocation of seats. The splitting of anti-Zanu (PF) votes may be fatal for the party that, before it divided in 2005, is seen to have been beaten in the three elections since 2000 only by violence and intimidation.

Millions of Zimbabweans are expected to vote in the elections, but the ruling party remained confident of victory. “We're very confident of victory, 99.9 per cent confident,” said Emerson Mnangagwa, a Cabinet minister, after presenting Mr Mugabe's election registration papers to the court in Harare.

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