| A verdict in Zimbabwe's violence-marred presidential election is expected on Wednesday, with early results showing President Robert Mugabe ahead of his main challenger Morgan Tsvangirai. Independent observers have slammed the poll as deeply flawed, raising concerns about the political fall-out in a country already grappling with a collapsing economy and growing diplomatic isolation on the world stage. Shortly after 1 a.m. (6 p.m. EST Tuesday), results from 32 of the 120 constituencies in the southern African country showed Mugabe with 415,206 votes against 340,217 for Tsvangirai. This represented nearly a quarter of the 3.1 million ballots cast. Voter turnout was put at 55.4 percent. |