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Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe speaks to supporters at an election rally in Bindura. Photograph: Mike Hutchings/Reuters
Leading figures in Zimbabwe's party today backed Robert Mugabe for a runoff vote against the main opposition party leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, if neither won an absolute majority in last week's elections.
The Zanu-PF administration secretary, Didymus Mutasa, said the party had endorsed a runoff if necessary.
The decision, in which Zanu-PF hardliners won out, came after a five-hour meeting of the party politburo to decide whether to concede defeat or fight on.
Official results have yet to be released – six days after the presidential vote – and the ruling Zanu-PF party has also said votes would be recounted in disputed areas.
The main opposition party has also tried to force officials to release election results using the legal system. A high court in Zimbabwe will hear an application at 9am tomorrow morning by the MDC, to try to pressure officials to release election results "within four hours of the court order", an MDC party official said tonight.
Following the party's electoral reverses, senior aides to the Zimbabwean president approached the MDC.
They said Mugabe was prepared to step down in return for an amnesty from prosecution for crimes such as the Matebeleland massacres in the 1980s and other guarantees.
However, it was unclear whether the approach was a delaying tactic while Mugabe weighed up his options under considerable pressure from different factions within Zanu-PF's politburo.
Parts of the security establishment favoured holding out for a second round of presidential elections.
They believe Zanu-PF can claw back support, perhaps with a campaign of violence and intimidation against the opposition – a tactic that has worked in previous elections.
Mugabe also heard from some senior political figures who believed there was no hope of the party winning the election and thought it should seek the best possible deal with the opposition.
Tsvangirai today told diplomats he had had direct contact with army chiefs who have told him they will uphold the constitution. If so, that would add to the pressure on Mugabe to go quietly.
Veterans of Zimbabwe's guerrilla war for black rule marched through the capital in what appeared to be a show of force today, but the country otherwise appeared generally calm as people awaited the official election results.
The long delay in their release has fuelled fears that they are being massaged in Mugabe's favour.
The opposition says its tallies show that Tsvangirai won an absolute majority and should be declared president immediately.
Amid rumours that security forces planned to crack down on the opposition, George Sibotshiwe, a Tsvangirai spokesman, denied that the MDC leader had gone into hiding.
"He had a meeting with diplomats today and he is in his offices," he told Reuters. "He has no reason to hide."
Senate results - which must precede the presidential outcome - only began trickling out last night.
Any runoff election should be held on April 19, three weeks after the elections, but some MDC sources say Mugabe planned to extend that to 90 days to give him time to regroup.
However, senior opposition sources said the aides warned that if the Movement for Democratic Change did not agree, Mugabe could declare emergency rule and force another presidential election in 90 days.
The opposition said the MDC leadership was in direct talks with the highest levels of the army, but was treating the approach with caution because it distrusted the individuals involved.
It has called instead for direct contact with the president, fearing delaying tactics.
Those fears were reinforced yesterday when, at one point, Zimbabwe's election commission abruptly halted the release of official results from Saturday's elections for "logistical reasons" and the police raided opposition offices.
Also yesterday, police arrested two Americans, one of whom was Barry Bearak, a New York Times correspondent.
The other works for the National Democratic Institute, a US organisation that monitors elections and promotes democracy worldwide.
Two other US citizens have been freed, the US state department said, but gave no further details.
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