Violence marks elections

Zimbabwe's rural and district elections held this weekend were marked by the arrest of an opposition parliamentarian, reports of violence and complaints that opposition candidates had been unable to register. In addition, Police Chief Augustine Chihuri warned the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) that it could not hold meetings without special clearance. Roy Bennet, an MDC member of parliament, was arrested on dual charges of allegedly violating the Electoral Act by entering polling stations without permission, and for defying a Section 8 order that he leave his farm. He was arrested with an MDC supporter and with a photographer. Police spokesman Assistant Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena told IRIN that Bennet had illegally entered about eight polling stations with the photographer before he was arrested. Police were then informed that he was also wanted for allegedly disobeying an order to leave his land under the government's controversial land resettlement programme. Bvudzijena confirmed that an 18-year-old MDC supporter, Tom Spicer, was arrested during a public disturbance while police were investigating another person on a firearm charge. Media reports said that Spicer's lawyer asked the court to record that he had been physically harmed while in police custody. Bvudzijena said the police had received three reports of arson - one was the torching of huts in Chiweshe which belonged to Elliot Manyika, the minister of youth, gender and employment. Six people were arrested for the attacks which the ruling ZANU-PF blamed on the MDC. The bedroom of an independent candidate in Headlands, northeast of the capital Harare, was set alight and the bedroom of a ZANU-PF ward chairman in mid-Rusepe, south of Harare, was also torched, he said. "There were no reports of violence except in Chiweshe where the MDC burned down houses of two of our members," Nathan Shamuyarira, ZANU-PF director of information told IRIN. He said ZANU-PF was happy with the elections and had already won 700 uncontested seats. Last week the MDC alleged that ZANU-PF supporters had prevented about 700 of their candidates from registering through "spurious bureaucracy". The party made a failed last minute court bid to postpone the elections on those grounds. "This weekend's elections were not close to the democratic standards for an election. It was simply one complete farce. We have so far won two seats in Bulawayo and we are happy about that, but we have low expectations," MDC legal affairs director David Coltart told IRIN. "We totally reject all the allegations of violence," he said. The results of the election were expected to be released on Monday night.