HARARE, Zimbabwe — HARARE, Zimbabwe -- The main opposition party and independent observers said yesterday that President Robert G. Mugabe was suffering a resounding defeat as election results were tallied, but no official returns were released and the capital was rife with speculation that they were being rigged.
Tension was high in Harare, with police deployed on most corners as the delay in announcing results from Saturday's balloting wore on. Usually, the first official results are released within hours of the polls closing.
There were unconfirmed reports that key ministers and Mugabe loyalists lost their seats in parliament.
In a briefing to diplomats, independent election observers said that with 66 percent of the vote counted, the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, Morgan Tsvangirai, had 55 percent of the vote. Mugabe, 84, had 36 percent, and ruling-party defector Simba Makoni had 9 percent, it said.
Tsvangirai's party said that with 12 percent of the polling stations reporting, he was winning 67 percent.
The estimate was based on figures posted at individual polling stations after election officials had signed off on them, the first time such counts have been posted under recent reforms to election law.
"The wave of change was too strong," said one shocked official of the ruling ZANU-PF, who lost his seat. The official spoke on condition of anonymity.
He said conditions were extremely tense, with speculation rife in the ruling party that the military might step in to back Mugabe and block the opposition from taking power.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in the Middle East for peace talks, branded Zimbabwe's president a "disgrace" to his people and to Africa yesterday, and expressed concerns about verifying whether the country held free and fair elections.
"We've made very clear our concerns about how this election might be conducted, given the very bad record of Mugabe concerning his people, the opposition and the region," Rice told reporters after meeting with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
In Zimbabwe, the Movement for Democratic Change defied government warnings that any early claim of victory would be considered an attempted coup.
"We've won this election," said an exhausted Tendai Biti, MDC secretary-general, who had been up all night as MDC representatives sent in their results.
