A year ago he was beaten by police for attending a prayer meeting but Morgan Tsvangirai remained defiant in his aim to restore democracy to Zimbabwe. Today he is almost certain to learn if he has achieved his dream.

Tsvangirai, 56, is of humble beginnings but has become one of the world's most inspirational political figures.

He has lived under the threat of arrest and death for 10 years, but hope remains that his Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party can free Zimbabwe from the dictatorship of Robert Mugabe and restore stability to a country where supermarket shelves are empty and a loaf of bread can cost hundreds of pounds.

One of nine children, Tsvangirai is a former mine worker and trade union leader, who eventually rose to the post of secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) in 1998.

Here he became increasingly politicised, speaking out against the decline in living standards of workers as the economy started to weaken. A major nationwide strike organised by the ZCTU thwarted Mugabe's attempts to raise income tax to pay the pensions of veterans of the 1970s wars of independence.

It was then that Tsvangirai first felt the strong arm of Mugabe's regime. He was attacked in his office with a metal bar and almost pushed out of a 10-floor window.

Further strikes were held and the ZCTU helped to establish the MDC in September 1999, the party which took 57 seats in the 2000 elections - the best show ever by an opposition party in Zimbabwe.

Since emerging as Mugabe's first credible opponent in the 1990s Tsvangirai has constantly run the risk of arrest or assassination.

Just before the presidential elections in 2002, he was accused of plotting to kill Mugabe. Tsvangirai was acquitted of treason, an unconstitutional charge, but for 20 months he lived under the threat of the death penalty.

Yesterday Tsvangirai was accused of stirring up potential violence on the streets of Harare by announcing that he was on course to claim victory.

But this time it would be the might of Zimbabwean people, as opposed to brute force, which could allow him take control.