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HARARE-Zimbabwe's opposition claimed victory on Sunday based on early results from an election in which it is trying to unseat President Robert Mugabe after 28 years of power and end an economic collapse."It's a historic moment for all of us. We have won this election, we have won this election," Tendai Biti, secretary general of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), told reporters, diplomats and observers at a briefing.The opposition, headed by former trade unionist Morgan Tsangaris, has accused 84-year-old Mugabe of employing election-rigging tactics in an attempt to stay in power and African observers say they detected fraud in Saturday's ballot.Once-prosperous Zimbabwe is suffering from the world's highest inflation rate of more than 100,000 percent, chronic shortages of food and fuel and a rampant HIV/AIDS epidemic that has contributed to a steep decline in life expectancy."People are dying in hospitals and funeral expenses are very high. How do you expect us to survive? Shop shelves are empty," said mother-of-three Gertrude Muzanenhamo, 36, echoing the views of many voters interviewed by reporters.Mugabe, who accuses the West of sabotaging Zimbabwe's economy, expressed confidence on Saturday he would be returned to office. "We will succeed. We will conquer," he said.The former guerrilla leader, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, rejected the vote-rigging allegations.Biti said the MDC's election agents had reported that early results posted at polling stations showed Tsvangirai was projected to win 66 percent of the vote in the capital Harare, an opposition stronghold.To read more go to:
As in the days of Noah....
