PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe's party has lost control of parliament, the latest official results have shown.

PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe's party has lost control of parliament, the latest official results have shown.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission results appear to show the collapsing of the regime which has ruled the southern African country since independence from Britain three decades ago.

The official results gave the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)105 seats to 93 for Mugabe's ZANU-PF in the 210-seat House of Assembly.

The announcement came just hours after the MDC claimed it had defeated President Robert Mugabe in both presidential and parliamentary elections.

Party Secretary-General Tendai Biti told a news conference that tallies based on totals posted outside polling stations showed MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai had won 50.3 per cent of the vote and Mugabe 43.8 per cent.

Biti said a second round runoff was not necessary but it would not object to one being held.

Election rules say any candidate needs 51 per cent for an outright first round victory.

Last night evil Robert Mugabe was told to step-down.

The dictator, 84, was told to quit after he was trounced in a general election that he tried – and failed – to rig.

Army chiefs warned he had no choice but to resign or face civil war.

Neighbouring South Africa and the United States were also applying massive pressure on him to end his 28-year reign.
Last night a face-saving deal was being stitched together by South Africa.

A top UK diplomat said: “This is very much the end. There is no doubt he is on the point of going.”

Mugabe was told yesterday that Morgan Tsvangirai, of the opposition (MDC), had won 60 per cent of the vote. The despot had 30 per cent. But Saturday's election results remain unannounced.

Some believe Mugabe was offered the role of vice-president in a power-sharing deal with his rival – allowing him to escape prosecution for the brutal suppression of his people.He would also be allowed to live out his days in the £8million mansion he built with taxpayers' cash.

The president's years in power have destroyed Zimbabwe and led to the deaths of millions. Inflation now stands at 100,000 per cent.

Mugabe won the support of most African nations after leading a war on white rule of what was then Rhodesia. Many still back him despite his human rights record.

Thousands of white farmers were thrown off their land. His thugs in the military and police colluded in the mass murder of political foes. And he tried to rig the poll by getting soldiers to fill in ballot papers with dead people's names.

Last night Tsvangirai denied holding talks with Mugabe.

His party will release its vote tallies today.