Civil society in Africa has a critical role to play in policy development, especially in promoting good governance.

Stronger citizen participation will drive the continent's integration and fast-track its development goals.

Zimbabwe's opposition claimed a clear lead over President Robert Mugabe and his party as pressure mounted on Monday evening for the swift announcement of full results from presidential and parliamentary polls. Earlier on Monday, the United Kingdom-based Institute for War and Peace Reporting said that Mugabe was to announce victory.

President Robert Mugabe and his ruling Zanu-PF party were to announce victory on Monday in the country's parliamentary and presidential elections, according to unofficial results leaked from the Zanu-PF and Zimbabwe Electoral Commission command centres.

Robert Mugabe was desperately trying to cling to power on Sunday night, despite his clear defeat in Zimbabwe's presidential election, by blocking the electoral commission from releasing official results and threatening to treat an opposition claim of victory as a coup.

The opposition claimed victory on Sunday in Zimbabwe's election as concerns mounted over a delay to the results of a contest that could see President Robert Mugabe turfed out of office. Meanwhile, the election was a peaceful and credible expression of the will of the people, observers from the Southern African Development Community said.

Zimbabwe's opposition said on Sunday it had won the most crucial election since independence, but President Robert Mugabe's government warned that premature victory claims would be seen as an attempted coup. Tendai Biti, secretary general of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, said that early results showed it was victorious.

Zimbabwe's opposition claimed victory on Sunday based on early results from an election in which it is trying to unseat President Robert Mugabe after 28 years of power and end an economic collapse. "It's a historic moment for all of us. We have won this election, we have won this election," said Tendai Biti, secretary general of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

If this was the day that the big change would take place, Harare did not look the part. If it weren't for the posters and the tent structures for polling stations on open land, one would be forgiven for thinking this was just another sleepy public holiday in the capital of Zimbabwe.

A war of words has erupted ahead of election day in Zimbabwe this Saturday, with the opposition saying the government has already rigged the vote. These elections were "never meant to be an even playing field", said Nkosana Moyo, coordinator of presidential hopeful Simba Makoni's campaign, in Johannesburg on Wednesday.