Zimbabwe's Mugabe-Tsvangirai election 'compromised'
This week's election in Zimbabwe was "seriously compromised" with up to a million people prevented from voting, the largest observer group has said.
Most of those turned away were in urban areas, where support for Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is strong, said the Zimbabwe Election Support Network.
It noted that fewer voters were rejected in rural areas, seen as strongholds of President Robert Mugabe.
Mr Tsvangirai later described Wednesday's poll as a "huge farce".
His comments came as Mr Mugabe's allies were already claiming a victory.
"We've buried the MDC [Mr Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change]," a senior party source told Reuters news agency.
It is illegal to publish unofficial results.
Vote counting started overnight, and the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) has five days to declare who won the poll.
Police have warned they would take action against anyone trying to leak early results. Extra units - some in riot gear - have now been deployed in the capital Harare.
African regional observers have praised the peaceful nature of the election.
In a statement on Thursday, the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) said that potential voters were turned away from 82% of urban polling stations.
In rural areas, it said, the percentage was less than half that.
"The election is seriously compromised," ZESN chairman Solomon Zwana said.
Meanwhile, villagers, MDC polling agents and the ZESN said there had been voting irregularities in the rural districts of Bikita, Mwenezi and Gutu.
They said local traditional leaders and village heads had lined up people, forcibly marched them to the polling stations and given them voting numbers as if to cross-check who they had voted for.
They also allege that in these areas some literate people were forced to pretend they could not read or write and were assisted to cast their vote in favour of Zanu-PF.
Mr Mugabe, 89, has pledged to step down after 33 years in power if he and his party lost.
President Mugabe's Zanu-PF party and and Mr Tsvangirai's MDC have shared an uneasy coalition government since 2009 under a deal brokered to end the deadly violence that erupted after a disputed presidential poll the previous year.
The first round of the 2008 poll was also praised for being peaceful - trouble broke out after the results were announced, with Mr Tsvangirai gaining more votes than Mr Mugabe.
'Dead' voters
On Tuesday, the MDC accused Zanu-PF of doctoring the roll of registered voters, which was released by the ZEC only on the eve of the polls after weeks of delay.
The MDC claimed the roll dated back to 1985 and was full of anomalies.
A BBC correspondent has seen the document and says it features the names of thousands of dead people.
MDC Secretary-General Tendai Biti said there were as many as two million such names, while some genuine voters were not on the rolls.
The MDC has already handed its evidence to observers from the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
But a senior Zanu-PF member has denied the allegations, saying that that appointees from both parties were in the electoral commission.
In addition to Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai, there are three other candidates standing for the presidency: Welshman Ncube, leader of the breakaway MDC-Mutambara; Dumiso Dabengwa of the Zimbabwe African People's Union (Zapu), and Kisinoti Munodei Mukwazhe, who represents the small Zimbabwe Development Party (ZDP).
To be declared a winner, a presidential candidate must win more than 50% of the vote. If no candidate reaches this mark, a run-off will be held on 11 September.
The elections were the first to be held under the new constitution approved in a referendum in March this year.
On Wednesday, voters were also electing the country's new parliament.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-23530095
