Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe is expected to be sworn in on Sunday after a landslide victory in a one-candidate election boycotted by the opposition, government sources said on Saturday.
The sources told Reuters official tallies from two-thirds of polling stations showed Mugabe, 84, defeating opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai by a huge margin in a widely condemned poll.
Tsvangirai's name remained on ballot papers after electoral authorities refused to accept his decision to withdraw a week ago on the grounds of violence against his supporters. He has taken refuge in the Dutch embassy since then.
Election authorities said on Saturday evening that counting was complete and they hoped to finish verification and collation shortly, clearing the way to announce the result.
"The tallies are indicating that despite the wishes of our detractors and the propaganda of our enemies, the voter turnout was very big and that we are going to see a landslide victory," said one of the government sources, who declined to be identified.
"If the official results are released today as we are all hoping, the indications are the inauguration will be tomorrow," he added.
A Sunday inauguration would be timed to enable Mugabe to attend an African Union summit in Egypt on Monday after extending his 28-year rule of Zimbabwe, a once-prosperous country crippled by poverty and hyper-inflation.
President George W. Bush dismissed the vote as a sham and said Washington would enforce new sanctions on what he called an illegitimate government.
He said he would call on the United Nations to impose an arms embargo on Zimbabwe and a travel ban on its officials.
Foreign ministers preparing for the AU summit indicated it would not support sanctions. African countries are believed to have more sway with Mugabe than Western powers.
Witnesses and monitors reported a low turnout in many areas in Friday's election, which was widely condemned after Tsvangirai withdrew saying almost 90 of his supporters had been killed in systematic violence by Mugabe's supporters.
They said voters in some places had been forced to vote for the president. Tsvangirai said millions of people stayed away from polling stations despite systematic intimidation.
The opposition leader and his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) won presidential and parliamentary elections on March 29 but fell short of the majority needed for outright victory.
