Zimbabwe's opposition today accused President Robert Mugabe of deploying militias and planning a war to reverse the result of last weekend's election.
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai said Mugabe was "preparing a war on the people" and deploying forces including liberation war veterans ahead of a presidential runoff vote.
"Militants are being rehabilitated", Tsvangirai told a press conference, adding that the central bank was printing money "for the finance of violence."
The MDC says it won last weekend's presidential vote as well as its officially declared victory in a parallel election in which Mugabe's ZANU-PF lost control of parliament for the first time in his 28-year rule.
ZANU-PF and independent projections show Tsvangirai being forced into a presidential runoff after failing to win an absolute majority.
"It is unfair ... for President Mugabe to even hint at a runoff. Violence will be the new weapon to reverse the people's will. We won this election without the need for a runoff," Tsvangirai said.
Calling Mugabe a lame duck president, Tsvangirai said he "must concede to allow us to move on with the business of rebuilding and reconstructing the country."
Earlier the Zimbabwe High Court postponed until Sunday a legal bid by the opposition to force the release of presidential election results after the electoral commission asked for more time to prepare its response.
Armed police initially prevented MDC lawyers from entering the High Court before allowing them in.
The opposition and Western governments blame Mugabe for Zimbabwe's economic collapse, which has reduced much of its people to misery. He blames Western sanctions.
The veteran president had looked wounded earlier in the week when ZANU-PF suffered its first election defeat. But a meeting of the party's politburo on Friday planned a fight-back and resolved he would contest a runoff against Tsvangirai.
Party officials alleged widespread MDC bribery of electoral officials and said they would legally challenge the results in 16 constituencies, enough to overturn the result if successful.