'World is watching' Zimbabwe

Britain has warned Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe "the world is watching" as pressure grows on him to step down.

Official election results show Mr Mugabe has lost control of Zimbabwe's parliament and the opposition has claimed outright victory in the race for the presidency.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said it was essential the Zimbabwean people get the "democratic outcome" they voted for amid continued delays in releasing the full results of the poll.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) won 105 seats with President Mugabe's Zanu-PF party on 93, making it impossible for them to regain an overall majority.

But there was no sign of the outcome of the presidential election.

Mr Brown said: "It's very important that the election results are published as soon as possible, that there is no further delay.

"The world is watching Zimbabwe. We will be vigilant in what we do and, of course, what we want to see is that the whole of the Zimbabwean people can be guaranteed that the elections are fair and are seen to be fair and we get the democratic outcome that the people of Zimbabwe have chosen."

Foreign Secretary David Miliband praised opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's "statesmanlike" behaviour in insisting that the expected handover of power is lawful and peaceful.

But he stopped short of proclaiming Mr Tsvangirai as the new president, telling MPs: "No-one in this House would want me to hand Zanu-PF a propaganda coup by endorsing one candidate or another, or taking it upon myself to announce the result."

He condemned the "shocking" way Saturday's election was "heavily tilted" in favour of Zanu-PF.

Mr Miliband said Britain was ready to help rebuild Zimbabwe's shattered economy once "real democracy" was restored.

The MDC has claimed Mr Tsvangirai has passed the 50 per cent threshold needed to make him the country's new president.

© Independent Television News Limited 2008. All rights reserved.