Mugabe failed to win control of Zimbabwe's parliament in partial recount

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Results so far have showed the ruling party has suffered its first defeat in 28 years.

Mugabe is now preparing for a run-off against Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) despite Tsvangirai claiming his party has won outright.

For the first time since Zimbabwe's independence from Britain in 1980, the MDC wrested a parliamentary majority from Mugabe's ZANU-PF in the election, triggering a recount of 23 out of 210 constituencies.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said that in the 14 out of 23 seats recounted so far, the original results were confirmed.

The commission had ordered the recount after ZANU-PF accused election officials of taking bribes to undercount votes for Mugabe and his ruling party and committing other electoral fraud.

A number of election officials have been arrested.

To win back a parliamentary majority, the ruling party needed to win nine more seats than it did in the first count.

Only nine are left to be counted - but ZANU-PF already won three of those in the first count.

Delays in the recount and in announcing the presidential result have brought growing international pressure on Mugabe, 84, and stoked fears of vote-rigging and bloodshed in a country suffering an economic collapse.

MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said: "This recount was a charade and a flawed process.

"The attempt was to reverse the will of the people and we rejected the recount from the onset. But I can confirm that our earlier majority has been reconfirmed according to information we are receiving."