The politburo of Zimbabwe's ZANU PF party is gathered at party headquarters in Harare Friday, for an unscheduled meeting where leaders are expected to discuss last Saturday's election. Peta Thornycroft reports for VOA from Harare that ZANU PF is expected to endorse President Robert Mugabe's attempt to win presidential elections in a second round of voting which must take place within 21 days of the results of the presidential poll.

Morgan Tsvangirai, 02 Apr 2008

Tsvangirai also told diplomats he still believes he won the presidential election with more than 50 percent of the vote but he said Mr. Mugabe would be more likely to seek a run-off election than concede defeat.

Returns from the senate elections were still trickling showing ZANU PF and the MDC with an equal number of seats.

ZANU PF narrowly lost its majority in the national assembly when results of the parliamentary elections were announced Wednesday by the Zimbabwe Election Commission.

Harare seems quiet, subdued even, although groups of ZANU PF militants marched quietly through the city center Friday.

Independent analysts and opposition parties say there does not appear to be any concerted political crackdown underway but Tsvangirai Friday said he regretted the delay in announcing the election results because it was causing tension and hindering the process of political reconciliation and economic recovery.

Thabo Mbeki

"We would hope that again everybody would accept those results in a way that those results have been accepted up until now," he said. "And then the legal constitutional processes of Zimbabwe would then proceed. If indeed Morgan Tsvangirai has been elected in terms of the electoral law and so on, that's fine. If there is to be a run-off, that's fine. So it's a matter that we must await."

Two foreign journalists, one from the New York Times and the other from the London's Sunday Telegraph were arrested late Thursday on charges of working in Zimbabwe without accreditation.

In addition, three pro-democracy activists from the United States were reportedly being detained. A western diplomat said Friday that the whereabouts of one of them, a staff member of the National Democratic Institute arrested at Harare airport, are not known.

The signs of Zimbabwe's economic collapse are everywhere. Stocks of groceries are low and the staple, corn meal, is not available in the shops.

The central bank said Friday it had released a new 50 million Zimbabwe dollar note, worth about  $1 on the parallel market. And the central statistical office announced that inflation had reached 165,000 percent.

Several diplomats said Friday they wondered whether Zimbabwe would be able to fund and organize the expected presidential run-off election.