Harare - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has bemoaned factionalism within his Zanu-PF party, saying internal divisions cost the party its parliamentary majority, state media said Friday.

"Instead of organising against the opposition, we are sweating for support, not for the party, but for oneself," Mugabe told party members ahead of their congress on Friday, according to the state-run Herald newspaper.

"We should be able to admit that the election produced a result that left a huge dent on the party," he said.

"We are responsible for the poor performance in the election last year."

Mugabe and his Zanu-PF were for the first time forced into the minority in parliament last year by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Tsvangirai also defeated Mugabe in the first round of the presidential race, but pulled out of the run-off citing state-sponsored violence against his supporters as the nation descended into political unrest, which rights groups say was fuelled largely by Zanu-PF.

Mugabe and Tsvangirai formed a power-sharing government in February in a bid to end a decade of political and economic turmoil.

Zanu-PF has been riven by internal squabbles over who should eventually succeed the 85-year-old Mugabe, while ethnic divisions have also heightened.

Mugabe has already been endorsed as Zanu-PF's candidate for the next elections slated for 2013, when he will be 89 years old.

By SAPA