It’s been three days and Zimbabwe and the world are still waiting. Who has won the Presidential election? Additionally and probably even more important who is going to be declared the winner. In Zimbabwe there is growing concern that the answers to the two questions may be different.

In one corner is Robert Gabriel Mugabe, the man who brought freedom to Zimbabwe and proceeded to rule the country for the next 28 years and in the other corner Morgan Tsvangirai, ex Union Leader and now avowed political foe of Mugabe. Tsvangirai first contested against Mugabe in 2002. He lost those disputed elections, but this time he has promised his supporters a different outcome.

The results of the parliamentary elections held on the same day as the Presidential elections are trickling in and of the 79 seats declared so far Mugabe’s party ZANU-PF has won 64 seats, Tsvangirai’s faction of the opposition MDC party has won 62 seats while another faction of the MDC has won 5 seats.

If the parliamentary elections serves as a guide then the presidential election are far from a foregone conclusion. Despite the vociferous support for Tsvangirai in the western media, Mugabe is not without support in Zimbabwe especially in the rural areas were loyalty of Mugabe for ending racist colonial rule in Zimbabwe runs deep, and that loyalty could count in a closely fought election.

The situation has been made all the more tense by the inexplicable reluctance of the Zimbabwean Electoral Commission (ZEC) to release the results. The vacuum created by the delay has been filled by countless rumours with both the government and the opposition have had to spend time countering.