From the AP this morning..

HARARE (AFP) - Zimbabwe's elections commission tried to calm growing disquiet Tuesday at the delay in announcing results from the country's presidential election amid warnings the country could lurch into anarchy.
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While a trickle of results from a simultaneous parliamentary contest gave the opposition a slight lead over President Robert Mugabe's ruling party, there was still no word on the presidential election three days after polls closed.

A European diplomatic source meanwhile said it was understood talks had already begun between some of Mugabe's aides and the opposition although it was not clear the negotiations were sanctioned by Mugabe.

Desperate for an end to the logjam, prominent civic organisations petitioned African diplomats to use their influence to force authorities to start releasing figures.

But the election commission insisted more time was needed.

"We would like to urge the nation to remain patient as we go through this meticulous verification process," chief elections officer Lovemore Sekeramayi said in a statement.

So far the commission has announced the results of 140 of the 210 parliamentary seats, with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change on 72, slightly ahead of Mugabe's ZANU-PF with 68.

The release of a further batch of parliamentary results did not manage to deflect the growing frustration over the delay to the main presidential contest which the MDC believes its leader Morgan Tsvangirai has won.

With the European Union and US having accused Mugabe of rigging his 2002 re-election, no Western observers were allowed to oversee Saturday's ballot.

But Western governments have been closely watching from afar and the first call for Mugabe to quit emanated from Europe.

Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, whose country holds the revolving presidency of the European Union, told journalists Mugabe must step down.

"I hope he is on his way out, most Europeans think this way," Rupel said.

The US government, which has described Zimbabwe as an outpost of tyranny, meanwhile urged the count to be speeded up.

"Delays in the release of the results are troubling, certainly given all the problems that we noted prior to the election," said State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey.

Monitoring of the vote was largely left in the hands of African organisations such as a mission from the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which gave it a largely clean bill of health.

In a petition to SADC and the African Union, a coalition of 18 rights organisations expressed suspicion the delay was being used as cover to fix the outcome.

"We... have found it necessary to send this urgent petition to your excellencies in order to save our country from potentially sinking into complete anarchy if election results are manipulated," the petition said.

"We as civil society are concerned by the failure to announce the results timeously. This creates a founded suspicion in the minds of Zimbabweans that the authorities are trying to manipulate the results."

Based on its own calculations, the MDC is confident it has won both the presidential and parliamentary contest.

However an independent network which deployed some 8,000 local election observers has projected Tsvangirai will fall just short of the votes needed to deliver a knock-out blow to Mugabe and that a second round may be needed later this month.

Tsvangirai has not been seen since voting day when he accused authorities of widespread vote-rigging.

His spokesman George Sibotshiwe said there was nothing sinister in his absence, adding he was "happy and well."

Sibotshiwe also denied reports that MDC and ZANU-PF officials were already in talks to ensure a smooth handover of power.

However a European diplomatic source said he understood that talks had begun taking place on Monday between Tsvangirai's aides and close advisors to the president, including senior figures in the police and army.

"What one has to ask is to what extent is this being sanctioned by Mugabe. If they are going behind his back, one cannot exclude a brutal reaction by the regime," the source told AFP.

"If he is the instigator of these negotiations then the negotiations are credible and they would allow a smooth exit."

There has been no significant violence so far in the elections.

Zimbabwe is grappling with an inflation rate of over 100,000 percent and widespread shortages of even basic foodstuffs such as bread and cooking oil.