March 30 (Bloomberg) -- Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has lost elections, the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change party said, citing early results posted at polling stations. The official outcome hasn't been announced.

The party, led by Morgan Tsvangirai, garnered 67 percent of the 30 percent of votes so far counted, Secretary General Tendai Biti said in an interview today from Harare, Zimbabwe's capital. The MDC leads in Mashonaland Central province and won a majority in the province of Masvingo, both strongholds of Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front party, he said.

``This is just an example of what we're getting from every province,'' Biti said. ``Barring a miracle, Mugabe can't win.''

Vote counting began last night as Mugabe, 84, seeks to extend his rule of the southern African nation, which he has led since ousting the white-minority government of the country then known as Rhodesia in 1980. A program started in 2000 of seizing white-owned farms, which bolstered Mugabe's rural support, sparking a decade of recession and the world's highest inflation rate of 100,580 percent.

Tsvangirai, 56, and Simba Makoni, a 58-year-old former finance minister, were Mugabe's main challengers. Final results may only be known later this week.

``It would be a massive, massive development for Zimbabwe and the region'' if Mugabe lost, said Anne Fruehauf, an analyst at Control Risks in London. ``The next few days will be very crucial in terms of whether a crisis momentum will build.''

`Cumbersome Rigging'

In elections in 2000, 2002 and 2005, the MDC led in initial results as votes in urban areas, the bedrock of opposition support, are counted first. The party lost after rural votes came in.

Nathan Shamuyarira, a spokesman for Zanu-PF, George Charamba, Mugabe's spokesman, and Patrick Chinamasa, Zimbabwe's justice minister, didn't answer calls to their mobile phones. A call to Makoni's mobile phone wasn't answered.

Results are posted outside polling stations before being sent to a central collating center, Irene Petras, the head of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, said. Official results will start to be released today, she added, citing reports on state- owned television.

``A huge delay would indicate that the rigging process is more cumbersome'' than government officials expected, Fruehauf said.

Not Official

Bloomberg couldn't independently verify the MDC's assessment.

The results aren't official and the claims are a ``concern,'' the state-run Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said, according to Agence France-Presse.

While the commission keeps promising to release the results, it doesn't know what to do, Biti said.

``The regime is at a loss and is delaying the results,'' he added.

The MDC also won a seat in Mugabe's home province of Mashonaland West, Biti said. In Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second- biggest city, the MDC has a ``narrow lead'' over Makoni, he added.

``We are hopeful, we are hungry and nothing but change can help us,'' Jonas Mashakada, an office worker, said from Helensvale in northern Harare. ``Things are terrible.''

The MDC has won 28 out of 29 seats in Harare and all but one in Bulawayo, Biti said.

The results ``are in the public domain,'' Biti, a lawyer, said. ``We made the mistake of not announcing our victory in 2002 and 2005 and we're not going to make the same mistake.''

`Coup D'Etat'

Zimbabwe's government had instructed parties not to release results ahead of official announcements.

Tsvangirai ``announces results, declares himself and the MDC winner and then what?'' Charamba said, according to the state- controlled Sunday Mail. ``It is called a coup d'etat and we all know how coups are handled.''

Riot police were deployed in Harare city center, Petras said.

Yesterday's election was held amid accusations by human rights groups including Amnesty International that the government harassed the opposition and vowed to cut off food supplies to voters who didn't back Zanu-PF. Zimbabwe Lawyers said many people were prevented from voting because poll officials said they had the wrong identification documents or they were trying to vote in the wrong area.

`Disgrace'

Mugabe, in power since Zimbabwe gained its independence in 1980, won the last three elections in votes marred by violence and electoral irregularities, according to most observers. Western monitors and most international media were barred from witnessing this year's ballot.

``The Mugabe regime is a disgrace to the people of Zimbabwe and a disgrace to southern Africa and to the continent of Africa as a whole,'' U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice told reporters in Jerusalem today.

An observers group from the Southern African Development Community, which includes South Africa and Zimbabwe, said the elections were ``credible.'' SADC observers endorsed the polls in 2002 and 2005.

Should none of the presidential candidates win more than 50 percent of the vote, a re-run will be held within three weeks. Mugabe said he doesn't expect a second round of voting as he won the election, the state-controlled Sunday Mail reported.

Zimbabwe's export-based economy, once southern Africa's second-biggest, started to collapse after Mugabe land- redistribution program eight years ago, causing shortages of food and fuel.

``This is as much a vote against Mugabe as it is for Tsvangirai,'' said Alois Masepe, a Harare-based independent political analyst. ``People are voting against the crisis of food and fuel shortages.''

To contact the reporters on this story: Brian Latham via the Johannesburg bureau on pmrichardson@bloomberg.netAntony Sguazzin in Johannesburg at asguazzin@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: March 30, 2008 16:41 EDT