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Zimbabwe: Election Officials Arrested
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The Nation (Nairobi)
8 April 2008
Posted to the web 7 April 2008
Kitsepile Nyathi
Harare
Zimbabwean police have arrested several employees of the country's electoral body accusing them of fixing last month's elections in favour of the opposition as the anxious wait for the results of the presidential elections entered its second week.
Investigations have revealed that a number of Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) polling officers have either been arrested or taken in for questioning since the ruling Zanu PF demanded a recount of the votes in 16 parliamentary constituencies last week.
Zanu PF lost control of the country's parliament for the first time since independence during the 29 March polls but results of the presidential vote still remain unknown.
According to unofficial results from independent election monitors, President Robert Mugabe lost the election to his long time rival Morgan Tsvangirai of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
The MDC says its leader won 50.3 per cent of the vote against Mr Mugabe's 42, 8 making Mr Tsvangirai the country's next automatic leader.
But Zanu PF said it had evidence that Mr Mugabe had been cheated in some constituency and wants a recount.
On Monday, the High Court was expected to make a ruling on an application by the MDC seeking to compel the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to release the results.
However, Zanu PF is insisting that it wants to challenge the results before they are made public because it believes some ZEC officials were bribed by the MDC to tweak with the votes.
It has since emerged that since last week police have been quietly swooping on civil servants who were temporarily employed by ZEC to supervise the elections on allegations of fraud.
In the southern Zimbabwe district of Binga, four elections officers were in police custody facing 'electoral fraud charges.' On Friday, armed detectives raided ZEC offices in the town of Masvingo.
The state media also reported that a chief elections officer had been arrested in the Midlands province but the case has been given scant publicity as anxiety continues to grip Zimbabweans amid the curious delays.
Police spokesman Superintendent Oliver Mandipaka also confirmed the arrest of a police officer attached to the ZEC during the elections on allegations that he violated the Police Act.
Repeated recounts
He allegedly questioned why some ZEC officials ordered repeated recounts of the votes at a polling station where Mr Mugabe had been beaten by Mr Tsvangirai.
"He conducted himself in a manner that contravened the Police Act," Supt Mandipaka said. "We warn other officers to desist from engaging in political activities."
The opposition accuses Mr Mugabe of ordering the ZEC to delay the issuing of the results so that he can get time to plot his next move after the apparent defeat.
Last week, the ruling party said it was preparing for a second round of voting because its own projections indicated that none of the candidates will win an outright majority as required by the country's electoral laws before a president is sworn into office.
There were also reports of fresh farm invasions led by veterans of Zimbabwe's liberation war who accuse the remaining white farmers of celebrating Mr Tsvangirai anticipated victory.
A runoff must be held within 21 days and the MDC has said it will only participate under protest because it is certain that it won the election.
Mr Mugabe was quoted by the state media today urging Zimbabweans to defend the land from an invasion by the former white farmers.
Meanwhile, in London, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called today for "proper international monitoring" if there is a runoff of Zimbabwe's presidential election, adds Reuters.
If a second round of elections is held, "it's very important that there is proper international monitoring," Brown told a news conference.
"I believe there is a united will of the international community that elections have got to be seen to be fair, election results have got to be published, elections have got to be properly monitored," he said.
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During the first round, Zimbabwe banned monitors from Western countries, such as Britain, that are critical of Mugabe.
Mr Brown held two hours of talks with South African President Thabo Mbeki on Sunday and said he was also in touch with other African leaders on Zimbabwe.
British officials declined to give details of the talks with Mbeki, who has previously mediated in Zimbabwe's political crisis and has been accused by critics of being soft on Mugabe. Tsvangirai flew to South Africa today for talks, aides said.
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