Zimbabwe's opposition leader was on track to win the first round of a presidential election against the incumbent Robert Mugabe, sources told AFP on Wednesday, more than four weeks after voting day.

Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), was set to get between 47 and 50 percent of the vote but would not win an outright victory, sources close to the electoral commission said.

Under Zimbabwe's electoral law, there needs to be a second round of voting if no candidate wins more than 50 percent. Tsvangirai earlier proclaimed himself the outright winner of the vote, based on his party's calculations.

The revelation came ahead of a meeting on Thursday of the electoral commission with representatives of the candidates at which preliminary results will be checked against tallies made by the different parties.

One of Mugabe's chief lieutenants, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, refused to comment about the possible outcome of the election.

"Verification tomorrow"

There will be "verification tomorrow and only after the verification process will we be able to talk about who got what percent," he said.

Election officials earlier confirmed the MDC had won a historic victory in parliamentary elections also held on 29 March, taking control of the legislature from Mugabe's Zanu-PF party for the first time in 28 years.

Tsvangirai has previously threatened to boycott a run-off but is also aware such a move could hand victory on a plate to Mugabe.

The tense stand-off over the results has seen a wave of violence in rural areas and mounting international pressure on 84-year-old Mugabe, who has led Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980.

The political uncertainty has also worsened an economic crisis in this once-prosperous southern African state, where inflation is running at more than 165 000 percent and unemployment is at 80 percent.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday warned of "a serious humanitarian crisis" taking shape in Zimbabwe, urging the government to release the results of the election and put an end to the violence.

The Zimbabwean government meanwhile savoured a rare diplomatic victory after a United Nations Security Council meeting in New York on Tuesday failed to agree on how to respond to the country's election crisis.

Western countries such as former colonial power Britain had been trying to steer the council to adopting a common strategy on the situation in Zimbabwe, pressing for a UN mission to verify human rights abuses.

"Racist ploy"

Zimbabwe's deputy information minister Bright Matonga said the outcome signalled the rejection of a "racist ploy".

"It was a British machination to try and bully African nations... to say Africans are not capable of making decisions," he told AFP.

South Africa, Russia and China were among the countries which blocked moves towards any UN intervention despite pleas by the MDC for a special envoy to help a transition of power in Zimbabwe.

The MDC says 15 of its followers have been killed by Mugabe loyalists and thousands forced to flee their homes. The government has accused the opposition of "lies" aimed at stirring up unrest.

Human Rights Watch, a New York-based watchdog, said the African Union and UN needed to take immediate action to prevent further violence in Zimbabwe, accusing the army of running a campaign of terror.

"The army and its allies... are intensifying their brutal grip on wide swathes of rural Zimbabwe to ensure that a possible second round of presidential elections goes their way," said Georgette Gagnon, HRW's Africa director.

Sapa