By Cris Chinaka

HARARE, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai said on Sunday his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is confident of winning general elections next month but fears President Robert Mugabe's government will rig the vote.

Tsvangirai, head of the main faction of the MDC, told a news conference that Zimbabweans, many of whom blame the government for ruining the once-prosperous southern African state's economy, were desperate for change.

"We believe the election ... however uneven the playing field may be, presents Zimbabweans with a fighting chance to remove this dictatorship," he said, repeating charges that Mugabe had rigged three previous elections to stay in power.

"The people will win in the election of 2008, and should Robert Mugabe choose to steal their victory, he would have consumed that last shred of legitimacy left for his dictatorship in the region and in the world," Tsvangirai added.

But he declined to say what the MDC would do if it felt cheated in the polls. "We will cross that bridge when we get to it," Tsvangirai said, adding: "Experience is the best teacher, and we will not go to court."

Tsvangirai, 55, said former Mugabe ally and ex-finance minister Simba Makoni had a crucial role to play in Zimbabwe's political future, but that the MDC could not work with him while Makoni retained strong ties with the ruling ZANU-PF party.

Makoni announced last week he would run against Mugabe for the presidency, and said he had support from ZANU-PF rebels.

"Dr. Makoni is a player looking for a team, and I already have a team here," Tsvangirai said when asked about a possible coalition.

The MDC leader said the crumbling economy -- Zimbabwe has the world's highest inflation rate, at over 25,000 percent, rising unemployment and acute shortages of food, fuel and transport -- had left Zimbabweans desperate.

"The people of Zimbabwe are looking to us to deliver them a new Zimbabwe," he said.

But despite the economic shambles, analysts say Mugabe may be able to hang onto power against a divided opposition.

The MDC is split into two factions, led by Tsvangirai and academic Arthur Mutambara, that will field rival candidates in next month's presidential, parliamentary and council elections after failing to agree on a unified ticket.

The MDC had earlier said it might boycott the March 29 polls if Mugabe's government refused to adopt a new draft constitution agreed between the two sides. The charter has not been adopted.

Tsvangirai has said a new constitution is his party's main hope of achieving a fair election and, without one, the result was bound to be disputed as had happened in the past.

Mugabe, 83, who has ruled Zimbabwe since it gained independence from Britain in 1980, says the MDC is sponsored by Western powers opposed to his seizure and redistribution of white-owned farms to landless blacks. (Editing by Catherine Evans)

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