the votes for Mugabe from persons long dead but still on the roll, and so on.

However, the agency is now believed to have split down the middle into two cliques - those still backing Mugabe, who will continue with the vote rigging, and those supporting his Zanu-PF rival Simba Makoni (right), who won't.

The thuggish head of the CIO, Happyton Bonyongwe, is said to be leading the pro-Makoni faction, and to have exchanged blows recently with his deputy Mernard Muzariri, who leads the pro-Mugabe people.

All this means that Mugabe may not have this one delivered to him on a plate. Hence the constitutional and legal plotting.

Judging by opinion polls and the level of attendance at rallies, neither Mugabe nor Makoni is the front-runner. That privilege belongs to Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the main opposition party, the Movement For Democratic Change (MDC). Mugabe is second in polls with Makoni closing on him.

But Mugabe himself made his intransigence quite clear at a rally in Bulawayo on Sunday, when he said of the

opposition: "You can vote for them but it will be a wasted vote. There is no way we can allow them to rule the country. It will never ever happen. Asisoze sivume [We will not yield.]"

However the result of the election is spun, street violence and worse is expected. There is a high probability of a coup if Mugabe is declared the winner, and the equal possibility of armed action if Tsvangirai or Makoni win.

Strongmen on Mugabe's side including army general Constantine Chiwenga have declared they will allow no other government to rule except Mugabe, and will back their words with force if necessary.

Makoni's supporters include General Solomon Mujuru. Mujuru and others have so far failed to back Makoni in public, but are confidently expected to do so in the next two days. Sources tell me they were meeting in Harare yesterday to discuss armed action if Mugabe attempts to stay in power.

It is the prospect of unrest on the scale seen recently in Kenya or, even worse, of full-scale civil war, which is beginning to cast a shadow over Saturday's vote.