Zimbabwe is heading for a presidential run-off, the state owned newspaper has reported.

According to the Herald newspaper, it appears as though neither President Robert Mugabe nor his main rival Morgan Tsvangirai have secured 50 per cent of the total vote.

Official presidential results have not yet been announced, but Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) claims Mr Tsvangirai has gained 49 per cent of the presidential vote, against 42 per cent for Mr Mugabe.

Fifty per cent is needed to avoid a run-off.

Parliamentary results released so far show that Mr Tsvangirai's opposition Democratic Change (MDC) party has won 90 seats, while Mr Mugabe's troubled Zanu-PF has 85 in total.

Five of the opposition seats have been won by a breakaway group of the MDC.

In total, 210 parliamentary seats are up for grabs.

The relatively slow pace of announcements has increased fears of vote-rigging.

However, Mr Mugabe, Zimbabwe's leader since 1980, has said that the vote would be free and fair.

Criticism of Mr Mugabe's government has grown rapidly in recent years following the country's alarming economic decline.

Zimbabwe's unemployment rate has reached a staggering 80 per cent, while inflation is the highest on the planet at more than 100,000 per cent.

The country's population also suffers from a lack of basic resources such as food, water, medicine and electricity.

Mr Mugabe is bidding for an astonishing sixth term in office, potentially seeing him in power until he is just short of his 90th birthday.

The article Mugabe faces run-off election originally appeared on 999 Today