Bob: I'll surrender

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has pledged to hand over power to his arch-rival, Morgan Tsvangirai, should he lose in the elections today.

"That's a normal thing to do. If you . join in a competition where there are only two outcomes, win or lose, you can't have both. If you lose you surrender to those who have won; if you win those who lose must surrender to you," Mugabe told journalists at State House in Harare yesterday.

Very few of them believe him as memories of the chaotic 2008 elections, which were characterised by killings, beatings and intimidation of political opponents by Mugabe's Zanu-PF, are still fresh.

Mugabe lost the first round of those elections to Tsvangirai but the Movement for Democratic Change leader did not garner enough votes to be declared the outright winner. He pulled out of the subsequent presidential run-off election because of the violence, which claimed about 200 lives.

Yesterday, heavily armed riot police were deployed to potential election flash points. State radio said thousands of officers had been sent to the central Midlands province, while trucks of police carrying automatic rifles and grenade launchers patrolled the Harare townships of Highfield and Mbare.

With no reliable opinion polls, it is hard to tell whether Tsvangirai will succeed in his third attempt to unseat his ageing rival, who has run Zimbabwe since its independence from Britain in 1980.

Both Tsvangirai's MDC and Zanu-PF predict landslide victories. But it is possible that, again, neither leading candidate will emerge the outright winner, triggering a September 11 run-off.

Civil society and non-governmental organisations have already concluded that the elections will not be free and fair given the "shambolic" voters' roll and an "inadequately" prepared Zimbabwe Electoral Commission.

The MDC launched a court application to have access to the voters' roll, the SABC reported last night. MDC secretary-general Tendai Biti said the party was promised a hard copy by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and the register general but this did not happen.

Zimbabweans are expected to protest outside the country's embassy in London today against what they term the "rigging of the vote" by Mugabe.

But if Mugabe was worried about the outcome of the presidential, parliamentary and local council elections, he was not showing it.

He appeared to be in high spirits and even joked with journalists that, at 89, he had learnt a new skill, "story-telling".

An unusually magnanimous Mugabe went as far as acknowledging the role played by Tsvangirai's MDC - a partner in the unity government - in fighting for the lifting of sanctions against Zimbabwe. He praised his political opponents for the mature manner in which they carried themselves during the election campaign.

"I want to thank the [two] MDC [formations] and their leaders for what was a joint appeal . to our nation for peace, for a fair and violence-free campaign . I do hope we remain this way even after the elections. Of course we had to attack each other politically, which is what we expected," he said.

The press conference - at which Mugabe's spokesman, George Charamba, urged journalists to ask "any question you like" - could be interpreted as a last push for votes.

Mugabe described the election campaign as having been "vigorous" and "energy usurping". But he showed no signs of tiredness, telling a reporter who asked when he intended to retire: "Why do you want to know my secrets?"

Mugabe made it clear another coalition government was not on the cards, saying he expected "an outright result". He denied he had tried to manipulate the polls: "I don't control the electoral process. I comply with [it] . I'm very obedient, I'm a lawyer myself. I'm also a person who believes in order."

His opponents are still not convinced. The MDC accused his party of acting in collusion with the electoral commission to steal the polls.

Speaking to the media yesterday, MDC spokesman Douglas Mwonzora accused Zanu-PF of using the state machinery to interfere with the voting. "We have discovered the electoral commission wants to slow down the voting process in urban centres, particularly in Harare, by reducing the number of voting points [at] each polling station,'' he said.

''We are told that some of the polling officers will deliberately embark on a go-slow just as they did during voter registration. This will definitely disenfranchise millions of voters."

But he said the MDC was still confident of victory."With only hours to go to the elections it is clear that the MDC has already won," he said.

Western observers have been barred from the polls, leaving the independent oversight to 500 regional and 7000 domestic monitors. Final results must be released within five days of the polls. - Additional reporting by Reuters