HARARE, April 2 (Xinhuanet) -- South Africa said Saturday the Zimbabwean parliamentary election which gives the ruling party a favorable majority reflected the will of the people.

    "It is the view of the mission that the 2005 parliamentary election in Zimbabwe reflects the free will of the people of Zimbabwe," said South African Labor Minister Membathisi Mdladlana, who led a observer mission for the election.

    Mdladlana said the election on Thursday "by and large" conformed to election guidelines adopted by Southern African Development Community leaders last year for holding a democratic vote.

    President Rober Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) won a landslide victory in the parliamentary election but the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) labeled the just ended sixth parliamentary poll as unfair.

    MDC president Morgan Tsvangirai on Friday said private assessments by the party revealed that the elections were not run fairly.

    "Zimbabweans should stand firm and defend their vote truly and effectively from the fraudster, ZANU-PF," he said.

    Without shedding more light, Tsvangirai said that Wedza, Chegutu, Goromonzi and Chipinge North constituencies which they won in 2000, had already been scooped by ZANU-PF through fraud.

    He however said since his party believed in taking power under democracy, it had no choice but to take action after the final results were announced.

    Mdladlana declined to comment on the opposition claims of fraud, simply saying "people can take the legal route" if they want to challenge the results.

    Zimbabwe held sixth parliamentary election Thursday. Though five political parties contested the poll, it is largely seen as a two-horse race between ZANU-PF and the MDC.

    ZANU-PF has been ruling since Zimbabwe attained political independence on April 18, 1980 from former colonial ruler Britain. However, in last parliamentary election held in 2000, the party just got a feeble majority with 62 seats. The MDC, a party launched just one year before that elections, won 57 seats.

    Zimbabwe's parliament, also called House of Assembly has 150 members: 120 elected for a five-year term in single-seat constituencies and 30 appointed members by president, governors and elected chiefs. Enditem