Mugabe's party fails to win back control of Zimbabwe's parliament

President Robert Mugabe's party has failed to win back control of Zimbabwe's parliament in a partial vote recount, results showed on Saturday.

For the first time in 28 years, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) wrested a parliamentary majority from President Robert Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF in a March 29 poll, triggering a recount of 23 out of 210 constituencies.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission said 14 out of the 23 seats had been recounted so far, and the original result was confirmed in all of them.

To win back a parliamentary majority, the ruling party needed to win nine more seats than it did in the first count. But even if ZANU-PF won all the seats left in the recount, it would fall short of the majority because it had already won three of the remaining nine seats being recounted.

Results of a parallel presidential election, which are also being partially recounted, have not been released.

The MDC says its leader Morgan Tsvangirai beat his old foe Mugabe in the election.

A delay in announcing the presidential result and a recount of some parliamentary votes has brought growing international pressure on Mugabe, 84, and stoked fears of bloodshed in a country suffering an economic collapse.