RFI - Police detain hundreds in Harare as recounts puts opposition ahead

Police detain hundreds in Harare as recounts puts opposition ahead

Article published on the 2008-04-27 Latest update 2008-04-28 20:38 TU

Zimbabwean President, Robert Mugabe
(Photo : Reuters)

A vote recount in Zimbabwe's presidential election should be completed by Monday, the head of the Zimbabwean Electoral commission has said. The announcement came after Zimbabwean police arrested hundreds of people during a raid on the headquarters of the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), in Harare. Armed police ransacked the offices, as ballot recounts showed President Robert Mugabe's ruling party seemed increasingly unlikely to overturn an opposition majority in the lower house.

"Police rounded up 215 people at Harvest House" on Friday, the state-controlled Herald newspaper quoted police spokesman Wayne Bvudzijena as saying on Saturday.

The detainees "will be screened against participation in politically-motivated criminal activities around the country", he said.

Riot police raided MDC offices where some victims of post-election violence had taken refuge and drove the activists to a police station in a bus and some trucks.

The crackdown came after reports in the state media that opposition activists had burned down homesteads belonging to President Robert Mugabe's The Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party.

Zimbabwe's state-run Herald newspaper today reported that the ruling party must win nine of the remaining ten recounts to return with an outright majority.

MDC has named their leader Morgan Tsvangirai as the winner over Mugabe in the first round of the presidential election, of which no official results have been released to date.