Zimbabwe observers question presidential results

HARARE (Reuters) - An independent Zimbabwean election monitoring group expressed doubt on Tuesday over the credibility of the results of the presidential election and accused the ruling ZANU-PF party of attacking observers.

The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) was the first observer group to publicly question the results, which showed opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai had failed to beat President Robert Mugabe by enough to avoid a second round run-off.

The observer group, made up of 38 non-governmental organizations, said a one-month delay in announcing results of the March 29 polls undermined the impartiality of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).

"ZESN cannot substantiate ZEC figures as the network is not aware of the chain of custody of the ballot materials during the aforementioned period," ZESN said in a statement.

"In addition, the delay to announce the results was a major concern, not only to ZESN but the general public as well and this obviously undermined the impartiality, credibility and transparency of ZEC."

The official results, announced on Friday, gave Movement for Democratic Change leader Tsvangirai 47.9 percent of the vote to President Robert Mugabe's 43.2 percent.

The opposition says Tsvangirai won the election outright and has ended Mugabe's 28 year rule over the once prosperous country whose economy is now in ruins.

ZESN accused ruling party members of beating observers and called on police to stop the attacks.

"Youths from ZANU-PF have been on the rampage targeting and physically beating up anyone thought to have observed the March 29 election," it said.

(Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)