MUGABE VOWS TO 'SURRENDER' IF HE LOSES ZIMBABWE VOTE

HARARE, Harare Province, July 30, 2013 (AFP) - Veteran Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe vowed Tuesday to step down if he loses the fiercely-contested election, as his rivals charged they had concrete evidence of vote rigging.

“If you lose you must surrender,” the 89-year-old firebrand said at a rare press conference in Harare on the eve of Wednes- day's presidential and parliamentary vote.

Mugabe, through a series of violent and suspect elections, has ruled Zimbabwe for 33 years uninterrupted since it gained independence from Britain.

But he denied any attempts to rig the election, declaring: “We have done no cheating”.

He faces a major challenge

“If you lose you must surrender,” the 89-year-old firebrand said at a rare press conference in Harare

from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, his reluctant partner in an uneasy power-sharing government forged after the last bloody polls in 2008.

Although tainted by sex scandals and allegations of party corruption, Tsvangirai has rallied tens of thousands of supporters on to the streets ahead of the vote.

But Mugabe's foes fear the wily old crocodile of Zimbab- wean politics will seek to win what is likely his final election by hook or crook.

Few believe the military -which remains squarely behind the independence hero -would recognise a Tsvangirai victory.