Report: Mugabe may cede power

HARARE, Zimbabwe, April 3 (UPI) -- Zimbabweans awaiting word Thursday on the outcome of the presidential election were getting mixed signals on whether President Robert Mugabe would concede.

Mugabe was expected to preside at a meeting Friday of the Politburo, the leadership committee of the Zanu-PF Party, which would discuss the election, Voice of America reported.

No official results had been released Thursday on the presidential race. Election officials announced Wednesday that the opposition Movement for Democratic Change had won a slim majority in the lower house of parliament.

While the MDC and other groups have given their own projections on the presidential race, none has suggested that Mugabe won a 50 percent majority, which would avoid a runoff.

Some of his supporters have said that Mugabe, 84, would contest a runoff. A source in the MDC told the British newspaper, The Guardian, that Mugabe aides have said he would stand aside in return for a guarantee of immunity. The aides reportedly said that without immunity Mugabe would declare a state of emergency and hold another presidential election.

Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe as prime minister and then as president since independence. In recent years, the country has been in an economic nosedive with inflation making its currency virtually worthless.