I will win, says Mugabe challenger

Challenger Tsvangirai: Says national healing is a priority

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has accused President Robert Mugabe of blatantly trying to steal Zimbabwe's weekend election, but said he will still win.

Tsvangirai, 49, giving his last news conference before the presidential election on Saturday and Sunday, dismissed fears of an army coup if Mugabe, 78, lost.

He even said he would be willing to consider forming a government of national unity with the ruling ZANU-PF party after this week's presidential elections if that was what was necessary.

"The people are now crying for peace and national healing," said Tsvangirai.

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But the man who analysts say would win given "a level playing field" said militants from ZANU-PF were continuing a systematic campaign of violence and intimidation.

He said that in the last few days they had abducted 22 polling agents for his party, the Movement for Democratic Change.

"The point will have to be made that the electoral process has been blatantly and outrageously distorted in favour of the ruling party," he said.

Under new security laws, police at first forced the MDC to cancel its news conference on Thursday, saying it was an illegal gathering. The opposition later moved it from a central Harare hotel to party headquarters.

The Financial Gazette weekly newspaper said on Thursday that the Zimbabwe army, whose commander has said it will not accept a Tsvangirai victory, had been put on high alert for the vote.

It said Mugabe had recalled soldiers from leave and pulled back some units from the Democratic Republic of Congo where they support the Kinshasa government against rebels.

There was no immediate government comment on the report, Reuters reported.

"As we come to the final moments of what has been a very long and difficult journey towards democratic change in Zimbabwe, I wish to send a loud and clear message -- the people's victory at the weekend poll is now certain," said Tsvangirai.

But he declined to say how the MDC would respond if he lost.

Mugabe; Says oppnent Tsvangirai is a "British stooge"

Before Tsvangirai spoke, one of his senior officials said the voters' roll was in shambles and included at least 50,000 dead people. The government had withheld vital information from the opposition.

"We will for example see the final voters' roll on Saturday, on voting day," said legislator Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga.

Tsvangirai, who has his 50th birthday on Sunday, said at least 70 percent of Zimbabweans wanted a new government after two decades under Mugabe.

Tsvangirai said his priority on winning power would be to restore law and order, address a severe food shortage threatening up to four million of Zimbabwe's 13 million people, promote national reconciliation and consider setting up a government of national unity.

Dismissing threats of a coup, Tsvangirai said: "There have been in the heat of the moment statements from President Mugabe... and others threatening to overturn the will of the people.

"These statements are unfortunate and should not be taken seriously locally and internationally," he said.

The MDC and foreign critics, led by former colonial power Britain and the United States, accuse Mugabe of using violence and repressive laws to rig the vote.

The state-appointed Electoral Supervisory Commission has accredited only 300 of the 12,500 local independent observers for this weekend's election, the Associated Press reported.

Meanwhile, Mugabe plans to send 22,000 of his own polling monitors to oversee the election -- all of them government employees and many of whom are policemen and soldiers.

Earlier Mugabe warned that he would pursue his challenger once the voting was over.