Harare: Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF party began meeting on Friday to decide whether President Robert Mugabe should contest a runoff vote against the opposition.

Mugabe convened his party after they lost control of parliament for the first time in 28 years. Elections results have still not been published.

Earlier a Zanu-PF official said Mugabe would contest the runoff vote against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

"We cannot just hand it to Morgan (Tsvangirai) on a silver platter. We will fight for it and we will win," the official said.

Zanu-PF and independent projections indicate that although Tsvangirai has won, he failed to get the absolute majority needed to avoid a runoff.