HARARE, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- The following are the news highlights in Zimbabwe's major media outlets on Wednesday:

-- Zimbabwe's opposition coalition leader Nelson Chamisa of the MDC Alliance on Tuesday claimed to have won the presidential race and accused the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) of plotting to rig the polls by taking long to officially announce the results.

This came as the ruling ZANU-PF party took an early lead in parliamentary elections, claiming more than half of the 210 seats in the National Assembly. (NewsDay)

-- MDC Alliance presidential candidate Nelson Chamisa has threatened to announce results as his party gets them, but the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) chairperson Priscilla Chigumba warned it would be illegal for anyone to publish speculative results based on social media reports. (NewsDay)

-- The Association for Free Research and International Cooperation (AFRIC), which is among international organizations observing Zimbabwe's harmonized elections, has given the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) the thumbs up for conducting a successful plebiscite.

This comes as India's election observer mission also expressed satisfaction in the way elections were conducted, saying it will welcome the final result to be announced by ZEC. (The Herald) Enditem