HARARE, Zimbabwe - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe expects to win next month's presidential runoff, but will not cling to power if he loses, the government newspaper reported Monday.
"We are very, very confident we will win this election," Emmerson Mnangagwa, a top Mugabe aide, was quoted as saying in Monday's edition of The Herald, a government and ruling party mouthpiece.
But "if the president loses, he will be the first one to go on national television to acknowledge the result to the people," Mnangagwa said. "He is a very principled hero."
Opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai claims he won the first round March 29, and that the June 27 runoff is based on fraudulent results and part of a plot designed to keep Mugabe in power.
Mugabe, 84, has ruled since independence from Britain in 1980 and, though once hailed as a liberator, he is seen as increasingly autocratic now.
Independent human rights groups and Tsvangirai's party say opposition supporters have been beaten and killed by government and ruling party thugs to ensure Mugabe wins the runoff.
Mugabe trailed Tsvangirai in the first round but, according to the official results, the opposition leader did not win the 50 percent plus one vote needed to avoid a runoff.
