Paramilitary police surround Harare hotel housing reporters
Mugabe is gearing up for a second round of the presidential election
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Thursday, 03, Apr 2008 08:11
Security agents and police in riot gear have surrounded a hotel in the Zimbabwean capital of Harare housing foreign journalists.
The Associated Press news agency claims that around 30 members of the police entered the hotel tonight and were preparing to take away a number of the international reporters.
Earlier Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF party claimed that the country's president Robert Mugabe was gearing up for a second round of the presidential election.
Deputy information minister Bright Matonga told reporters that if the results from the weekend's election showed that a second round of voting was required, Mr Mugabe was ready to stand.
"If there is no clear winner, the laws stress that you have to go for a run-off," Mr Matonga said.
"President Mugabe is going to fight to the last, and he's not giving up, he's not going anywhere, he hasn't lost the election," he added.
It was also announced earlier that the final official results from the Zimbabwe parliamentary election showed the main opposition had won two more seats than the ruling Zanu-PF party.
Robert Mugabe's party polled 97 seats compared to the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party, which took 99 seats in the 210-seat assembly.
A breakaway faction of the MDC, in opposition to the leadership of Morgan Tsvangirai, won a total of ten seats.
Voting in three of the remaining four constituencies was postponed due to candidates dying in the run-up to the voting, while an independent candidate won the final seat.
The Zimbabwe electoral commission (ZEC) is still yet to confirm the official results of the presidential race, with reports differing over whether Mr Tsvangirai has unseated Mr Mugabe or not.
The MDC has already claimed their leader polled 50.3 per cent of the popular vote, making him the new Zimbabwean president - a claim denied by Mr Mugabe's party.
This contrasts with a separate claim by Zimbabwean daily newspaper the Herald, which reported yesterday that neither Mr Tsvangirai nor Mr Mugabe had won the required 50 per cent share of the vote to declare an outright victory and a run-off would be necessary.
At a press conference on Tuesday evening, Mr Tsvangirai said the MDC would wait for the ZEC to announce official results before claiming victory.
Mr Mugabe, 84, came to power in Zimbabwe 28 years ago after the country achieved independence from British rule. However in recent years the country has been plagued with the world's highest inflation and huge food and fuel shortages.