Regional observers endorsed Zimbabwe's elections as credible and fair on Sunday but long delays in issuing results stoked concerns that President Robert Mugabe was trying to cling to power by rigging the result.
The election is the most important since independence, with Zimbabwe's economic collapse and a two-pronged opposition attack facing Mugabe with his most formidable challenge.
Two dissenting South African members of the observer mission refused to sign a positive preliminary report by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and said the results delay "underscores the fear that vote rigging is taking place."
They said there was evidence of "widespread and convincing" victories by the opposition MDC party, which also expressed concern about the delays.
The MDC earlier said it had won the election but Mugabe's government warned the opposition it would regard such claims as a coup attempt.
SADC mission chairman Jose Marcos Barrica of Angola told reporters through an interpreter the election "has been a peaceful and credible expression of the will of the people of Zimbabwe."
Mugabe, in power for 28 years, is being challenged by MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai and ruling ZANU-PF party defector Simba Makoni, who both accuse the former guerrilla leader of wrecking a once prosperous economy and reducing the population to misery.
Although the odds seem stacked against Mugabe, 84, analysts believe his iron grip on the country and backing from the armed forces will enable him to declare victory. The MDC accused him of widespread vote-rigging.
"FREE AND FAIR"
Barrica expressed concern about the voters roll, opposition access to the media and statements by the heads of security forces who had said they would not accept an opposition victory.
But he added: "We saw that the basic conditions for a free and fair election were there."
The dissenting mission members from South Africa's opposition Democratic Alliance (DA), said in a statement it "is impossible for this deeply flawed electoral process to be viewed as a credible expression of the will of the people of Zimbabwe."
SADC, which critics say has been too soft on Mugabe, has unsuccessfully tried to mediate an end to Zimbabwe's crisis, which has turned a quarter of the population into refugees.
