Robert Mugabe lost control of Zimbabwe’s parliament yesterday for the first time since taking power 28 years ago, but as the Opposition also claimed victory in the presidential poll, speculation mounted that he would make a last desperate attempt to cling on.

According to the final results of Saturday’s elections announced last night, the opposition led by the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has secured an absolute majority, winning 109 of parliament’s 210 seats.

Morgan Tsvangirai, the MDC’s leader, also claims to have won an outright victory against Mr Mugabe in the presidential race, though the Government has published no figures for that contest.

After four days of waiting for official results, the MDC threw down the gauntlet to Mr Mugabe, vowing that it would take the contest to a run-off if the figures were rigged to deny Mr Tsvangirai his victory.

The question is now whether Mr Mugabe can resist the challenge to go down fighting in a run-off, which promises to be a humiliating and protracted defeat, or accept the inevitable and stand down. Pressure is mounting on Mr Mugabe from within his own inner circle to secure a dignified exit from State House, so that they can avoid going down with him should he try to fight to the death.

Yesterday’s official announcement that his ruling Zanu (PF) party had lost control of the once compliant Parliament, retaining 97 seats, only added to the gloom in his inner circle. But the agonising wait for the release of the presidential results, which enters its fifth day today, has fuelled fears that Mr Mugabe is still trying to fix the outcome in his favour.

Even Zanu (PF) has conceded that Mr Tsvangirai had won, as announced through its party poll projections, and in yesterday’s Herald newspaper, the party’s mouthpiece. But both insisted that neither candidate won more than 50 per cent of the vote, paving the way for a run-off.

Using official vote counts posted outside polling stations after polls closed on Saturday night, the MDC declared Mr Tsvangirai “Zimbabwe’s next president” with 50.3 per cent of the vote. The count gave Mr Mugabe 43.8 per cent. The remaining 6 per cent went to the Zanu (PF) defector Simba Makoni, who has already pledged his votes in a run-off to the MDC.

Tendai Biti, the party’s secretary-general, said that the results made a run-off unnecessary but added that it would accept one “under protest” rather than challenge the official results should they indicate a different outcome. But Mr Biti appealed to Mr Mugabe to concede defeat, avoiding embarrassment and a prolonged political crisis for the country.

The words were carefully chosen. Mr Mugabe’s pride is rivalled only by his hunger for power, and insiders have described the prospect of a run-off as “deeply humiliating”. The intelligence and security hierarchy who have propped him up for nearly three decades were said to have talked the election commission into delaying and massaging the presidential results while they sought to persuade Mr Mugabe to go to a run-off.

Mr Mugabe has not been seen in public since he voted on Saturday, fuelling speculation in a febrile post-election Harare. But yesterday the official line remained defiant. “President Mugabe is going nowhere,” Bright Matonga, the Deputy Information Minister, said. “No one is panicking.”

He dismissed the MDC victory claim as mischievous, adding: “We are not going to be rushed by anybody.” Riot police and soldiers continued to patrol opposition areas of Harare and Bulawayo yesterday, but their presence was less obvious than a day earlier when they closed down beer halls and bottle shops.

By law, any run-off must be held within three weeks, raising fears that tensions could rise and lead to violence between opposition supporters and security forces. Should Mr Mugabe cling on, he could be expected to deploy his political shock troops — independence war veterans and his “green bombers” youth militia — to intimidate voters. But the opposition’s extraordinary momentum would be hard to halt.

Mr Biti reminded reporters that violent disorder was all but alien to Zimbabwe and dismissed fears that frustration would lead to violence. “We are not worried,” he said. “There is a lot of goodwill among the Zimbabwean people. Violence is not their way.”

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