MDC says it has beaten Mugabe

HARARE, Zimbabwe, March 29 (UPI) -- The Movement for Democratic Change claimed victory in Saturday's national election in Zimbabwe, saying its candidate defeated incumbent President Robert Mugabe.

The party ignored a government order to wait for official results, The Guardian reported.

"We've won this election," said Tendai Biti, the party secretary-general. "The results coming in show that in our traditional strongholds we are massacring them. In Mugabe's traditional strongholds they are doing very badly. There is no way Mugabe can claim victory unless it is through fraud. He has lost this election."

Voting was mostly orderly Saturday and turnout was high, police and poll watchers said.

Mugabe, seeking a sixth term, faced challenges from Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, and Simba Makoni, a former Mugabe ally running as an independent.

Voters waited in long lines, often for hours. A Voice of America reporter in Bulawayo said she spent three hours and 15 minutes in line.

Police reported only one violent incident, a bomb that went off at the home in Bulawayo of a member of Parliament from the ruling Zanu-PF party. No injuries were reported.

Election observers said there appeared to be police intimidation at some polling places.

Results are expected to be known by Monday. To claim victory, a candidate must have at least 50 percent of the vote to avoid a run-off election in three weeks.