JURIST - Paper Chase: Zimbabwe police detain reporters, raid opposition offices as possible run-off looms

[JURIST] Zimbabwe security forces Thursday detained journalists [CPJ press release] working for the New York Times and the Canadian Broadcasting Coiporation and raided offices belonging to opposition candidates in what some see as indications that long-time Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] may refuse to relinquish power if he is found to have lost last Saturday's general election. [JURIST report] Zimbabwe's Electoral Commission [official website] has not yet announced the official results of the presidential election. Opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) [party website] has insisted its candidate Morgan Tsvangirai [BBC profile] actually won, but has indicated that it is willing to participate in a run-off, as have officials of Mugabe's Zanu-PF party. AP has more.

Zimbabwe opposition parties allege that the government rigged the country's local, senate, assembly and presidential elections held on Saturday. Mugabe's administration has denied any improper delays in the vote count, with Electoral Commission officials attributing the lag to the task of tallying all the results together for the first time in the country's history.

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