(dpa) - A Zimbabwean government spokesman on Thursday vowed embattled President Robert Mugabe would fight tooth and nail to retain the presidency despite his Zanu-PF party's defeat in parliamentary elections.
"President Mugabe is going to fight to the last," Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga told the BBC.
No results have been released as yet from last Saturday's presidential elections. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has already declared its leader Morgan Tsvangirai victorious claiming 50.3 per cent of the vote in their own count of the votes.
Zanu-PF has rejected this claim, saying the ruling party, while taking fewer seats in 210-seat House of Assembly won the popular vote.
This, they say, points to a tight race for president and a likely second round, as called for if no candidate takes more than 50 per cent of the vote plus one ballot.
"If there is no clear winner the law states that you have to have a runoff (vote)," Matonga told the BBC.
In the event of Mugabe and Tsvangirai facing off in a second round "we won't be caught napping," he vowed. "We will win."