Deadly force

ZIMBABWE’S government vowed yesterday to crack down on opposition dissent after three people were killed when protests against alleged electoral fraud were met by live ammunition, denting hopes of a new era for the country.

Soldiers fired on demonstrators during opposition MDC party protests in the capital Harare, witnesses said, with one man fatally shot in the stomach.

Monday’s polls — the first since autocratic president Robert Mugabe, 94, was forced out by a brief military takeover in November — were meant to turn the page on years of violence-marred elections and brutal repression of dissent.

But the mood descended into anger and chaos as supporters of the Movement for Democratic Change ( MDC) opposition declared they were cheated in the election count.

“You said you were better than Mugabe. You are the picture of Mugabe,” shouted one young male protester. “We need security for the people.”

Official results said the ruling ZANU-PF party easily won most seats in the parliamentary ballot, strengthening President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s prospects of holding onto power in the key presidential race.

MDC supporters, who say their leader Nelson Chamisa won the vote, burnt tyres and pulled down street signs as protests spread from the party headquarters in Harare.

Police confirmed three people had died, but Mr Mnangagwa blamed the opposition for the unrest and fatalities.

“We hold the opposition MDC Alliance and its whole leadership responsible for this disturbance of national peace,” he said, adding the government “went out of its way” to ensure peaceful elections.

Mr Mnangagwa, 75, had promised a free, fair vote after the military ushered him to power in November when Mr Mugabe was forced to resign.