Police also fired guns into the air at a polling station in the Harare neighborhood of Glen Norah to disperse 600 people waiting to vote Monday night. When told to go home, they began chanting "Change, change, we want to vote!"
At another polling station in the capital, the presiding officer, escorted by police, marked a distance 100 yards from the entrance and announced the voting line ended there. Voters refused to budge and began arguing with police and officials.
"Since independence I've never seen such a thing and I wonder why they've done so." said F. Ncube, a 50-year-old factory worker. [End Excerpt]
Germany said via foreign ministry spokesperson Andreas Michaelis that it "regretted that the presidential election took place in a context of a policy of intimidation and violence".
The South African government's observer mission to the election was less critical, saying the vote "should be considered legitimate" but deliberately stopped short of calling the vote free and fair.
The heads of South Africa's three largest opposition parties, however, condemned the way the elections were conducted and called on the South African government to take a tougher approach to events in its regional neighbour.
Rebels from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) said the re-election of Mugabe was bad news for efforts to end the war in their country, in which his troops are fighting on the side of the government.
The secretary general of the Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC), Olivier Kamitatu, said they believed Mugabe's victory had seen Kinshasa harden its stance at peace talks in South Africa.
"If Tsvangirai had won the elections at least we would have gotten some assurance that Zimbabwe will withdraw its troops, but Mugabe will retain his interests in the Congo, by which we of course mean his mineral interests," he added. - Sapa-AFP [End Excerpt]
Zimbabwe is seething with anger [Excerpt] Zimbabwe's people are "seething with anger" over the re-election of President Robert Mugabe in "massively rigged" elections, defeated candidate Morgan Tsvangirai said as he rejected the result on Wednesday.
"The election was massively rigged," Tsvangirai told a briefing attended by hundreds of journalists, diplomats and observers, vowing to launch a nationwide consultation on how to respond to "the biggest election fraud I have ever witnessed in my life".
"The people of Zimbabwe know better, that this election as announced by the registrar general's office does not reflect the true will of the people of Zimbabwe," said Tsvangirai, who scored 41,9 percent of the vote against 56,2 percent for Mugabe, according to the official results.
"From now on there is massive consultation taking place and they (the people) will have to decide what to do.
They are the ones who have been cheated," he said, adding: "This is a political issue that has to be resolved politically by the people of Zimbabwe."
Tsvangirai warned: "The people of Zimbabwe are seething with anger, but how that anger is going to be directed in a constructive way, in a strategic way, that is what is under discussion." [End Excerpt]
Zimbabwe's tragedy -- Mugabe's villainy and Africa's cynical complicity London Times -[Excerpt] Yet even so, under the most intense intimidation, the MDC kept up its election rallies and voters risked beatings or worse to listen. Voters formed long queues, knowing how little their vote would be allowed to count; in panic, urban booths were shut. The turnout itself tells the story: suspiciously low in the towns where Mr Tsvangirai's support is strongest, highest in those parts of the country firmly in Zanu- PF's grip.
Thus has the bravest, best organised and most tenacious democratic opposition movement in Africa's history gone down to defeat. Mr Tsvangirai, aware of the great danger to which protest would expose his many supporters, has appealed for calm. He himself may now, outrageously, be arrested on charges of treason. Mr Mugabe has said as much. A man who, back in 1982, sent in brigades to massacre 20,000 Ndebele must be judged ready to carry out his threat.
Mr Tsvangirai, and the men and women who have conquered their fear in his support, deserve the unstinting support of all African leaders with any claim to democratic legitimacy. They are not getting that support. The Organisation of African Unity, true to its reputation as a despots' club, has pronounced the poll to be "transparent, credible, free and fair". Kenya's Daniel arap Moi has congratulated his "dear brother" on the "confidence and high esteem the people of Zimbabwe hold in you". Tanzania's President delights in his "richly deserved" triumph. The observers sent by South Africa's Thabo Mbeki, ferociously mocked at home for their complacency, term the outcome "legitimate", though they could not quite bring out the words "free and fair".
The teams sent by Nigeria and the Commonwealth, each headed by former Nigerian rulers who never stood for election themselves, have yet to pronounce. But it is likely that Africa's leaders will refuse yet again to acknowledge how evil has betrayed African hopes. South Africa and Nigeria, along with Australia, have been entrusted with advising the Commonwealth. If this body splits along racial lines and does nothing in defence of the principles for which it stands, it is finished. So will be Tony Blair's dreams of a new compact for Africa, with fresh aid to reward a break with its terrible past. Africa's leaders have a choice between that fresh start, and solidarity with their "brother" Mugabe. Mr Blair must insist at once, and mean it too, that they cannot have both. [End Excerpt]