Mugabe faces biggest challenge in Zimbabwe election

By Cris Chinaka

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, in power for three decades but accused of ruining his once prosperous nation, faces his biggest challenge in an election on Saturday.

Former guerrilla leader Mugabe, 84, who has ruled since independence from Britain in 1980, will undergo a formidable two-pronged assault from veteran opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai and ruling ZANU-PF party defector Simba Makoni.

His two rivals believe they can finally end Mugabe's iron rule because of an economic meltdown that has reduced most of the population to misery, including those in his traditional rural strongholds.

Zimbabwe, once a regional breadbasket, now suffers the world's worst inflation at 100,000 percent, a rampant HIV/AIDS epidemic that has contributed to a radical reduction in life expectancy, a virtually worthless currency and chronic shortages of food and fuel.

But few analysts are prepared to count Mugabe out.

They say he has maintained a tight grip on power through a combination of ruthless security crackdowns, intimidation of ruling party rivals and an elaborate patronage system. A split opposition may also favour Mugabe.

Supporters both inside the country and elsewhere in Africa still revere him as the last of the liberation heroes.

Tsvangirai, a former trade unionist who has long posed the greatest threat to Mugabe, and former finance minister Makoni say the economic catastrophe will not end unless the veteran leader is replaced.