Those being held, from civil society groups, were allegedly co-ordinating the release of results from Wednesday’s general election, police say. They are being charged with breaking electoral law, their lawyers say. Civil society groups have tried to do their own vote count to compare results with the official tally in light of disputes over past election results. Officers carried out a series of raids and arrests in the capital, Harare, including at a hotel and offices of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network and the Election Resource Centre, where the 41 worked. Initially, lawyers said they had received disturbing distress calls from clients, adding that they did not know where the police had taken them. But they were later granted access to their clients. Police spokesman Paul Nyathi has said that 38 laptop computers and 93 phones were seized from the offices. He added that “any form of chaos” during the election would be “severely” dealt with.
SOURCE: AFRICA NEWS