Zimbabwe's main opposition leader and presidential candidate in 29 March general elections said on Thursday that the voters' register was filled with tens of thousands of ghost voters.

Morgan Tsvangirai also charged that the poll could be rigged in favour of President Robert Mugabe because of a separate vote counting system after the polls.

The Movement for Democratic Change leader told a news conference that independent investigations had revealed that 90 000 names appearing on the roll for 28 rural constituencies could not be accounted for.

"In all the 28 rural constituencies these independent analysts have done, there are 90 000 unaccounted voters," Tsvangirai said.

"You can imagine with 210 constituencies what's the figure of the people that have been identified as registered but do not exist," he said.

He said that the voters' roll was in a shambles and threatened to pull out of the elections if the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission goes ahead with plans to count the presidential ballots at a separate venue instead of polling stations where the other votes will be counted.

"We now hear that the council, the constituency and the senatorial results will be conducted at constituency level but the presidential (ballots) will be counted at the national command centre," Tsvangirai said.

"Let me say if that happens, I will not participate in such a process and ZEC must understand that it is against the law. Every vote must be counted at the polling station."

He also queried why the ZEC made an order for 600 000 postal ballots when the people who would require postal ballots were 20 000.

Zimbabweans are going to the polls next week on Saturday to chose a president, parliamentarians and councillors.

Veteran Mugabe (84) who has been in office since the nation's independence in 1980, is seeking a sixth term in the elections where he faces a challenge from his former finance minister Simba Makoni, as well as Tsvangirai.

The southern African country is reeling under economic crisis characterised by high inflation officially put at over 100 000 percent and chronic shortages of basic goods like sugar and cooking oil.

AFP

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