April 1 (Bloomberg) -- Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change took the lead in early results from Zimbabwe's parliamentary elections, seeking to end the 25-year rule of President Robert Mugabe's party and six years of recession.

Former labor leader Morgan Tsvangirai's MDC took nine of the 10 seats announced today by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission after voting ended peacefully yesterday. Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front party, which is seeking a two-thirds majority in parliament that would enable it to change the constitution, had one seat, the ZEC said.

Mugabe, 81, has defeated the MDC in two polls since 2000 that observers, including the European Union, condemned for violence and vote rigging. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch this month said an outdated register of voters and intimidation invalidated yesterday's vote. A two-thirds majority would allow Mugabe to appoint a prime minister who would succeed him in 2008, the date he has set to step down.

The MDC needs to win at least 76 seats to gain a majority in Zimbabwe's 150-seat parliament. Voters chose representatives for 120 seats yesterday. The constitution allows Mugabe to appoint 30 lawmakers.

Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe since the southern African nation emerged from a guerrilla war against the white-minority regime of Rhodesia, a U.K. colony, as an independent country in 1980. He won re-election to a six-year term in March 2002.

The commission received no reports of election-related violence during yesterday's polling, said George Chiweshe, the chairman of Zimbabwe's Electoral Supervisory Commission, which is overseeing the election. Final results were expected within 48 hours of voting.

``Balloting took place on a playing field that was heavily tilted in favor of the government,'' U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said yesterday at a briefing in Washington. ``They had a near monopoly of election media and they closed down the independent newspaper throughout the whole campaign. Generally, we'd say that the campaigning took place in an atmosphere of intimidation.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Godfrey Mutizwa in Harare on gmutizwa@bloomberg.net and Antony Sguazzin in the Johannesburg bureau asguazzin@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: March 31, 2005 23:41 EST