Anna Chan:
And the final results have yet to be unveiled in Zimbabwe... but state media says that President Robert Mugabe has failed to win a majority for the first time in nearly three decades. Let's see what that means.

The final outcome of Zimbabwe's parliamentary and presidential elections remains unclear but now even the state-owned Herald newspaper is saying President Robert Mugabe has failed for the first time since independence to secure a majority.

On the streets of the capital, Harare, residents appear philosophical about the long wait for the official vote results.

"We want correct results so whether they take 14 days to come out, I am sure we will get them."

"If it's a tie it's going to be a re-run so everyone is waiting for a re-run of the presidential poll."

Both the government and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai are denying the two sides are in talks to negotiate a managed departure for President Robert Mugabe:

[Morgan Tsvangirai, Leader, Movement for Democratic Change]:
"There is no discussion, and therefore it's a speculative story."

The prospect of a second-round ballot has raised fears of an explosion of violence in the three-week gap before that happens.

The government is rejecting any suggestion the country could descend into the kind of bloody in-fighting earlier seen in Kenya.

[Brian Matonga, Zimbabwean Deputy Minister of Information]:
"We don't want the war and that's why you don't see violence in Zimbabwe because of that war situation. Kenyans never went to war to fight for their independence, Zimbabweans did."

Meanwhile there are signs Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF party is preparing for a run-off. Its ten-fold widening of the tax-free threshold for workers is widely seen as an attempt to curry favor with voters.